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Affinity products for Linux


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40 minutes ago, IanSG said:

Maybe I missed something, but wasn't it always planned for the entire Affinity suite to run on OSX & Windows?

No, according to posts from Serif staff the plan was that the entire suite would run on OS X first and “other platforms” later. Early expectations were that iOS versions would precede Windows versions.

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18 minutes ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

No, according to posts from Serif staff the plan was that the entire suite would run on OS X first and “other platforms” later.

But that does not mean that the plan was not to develop Windows versions from the beginning, only that the staff were being closed mouthed about it until there was a Windows public beta version they could talk about in the forums. Besides, it wasn't very hard to make an educated guess that the first 'other platform' would be Windows, considering the huge installed user base & Serif's experience developing its older Windows-only apps.

Personally, the only thing that really surprised me was that the Mac versions came first instead of the Windows ones.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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9 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Personally, the only thing that really surprised me was that the Mac versions came first instead of the Windows ones.

That didn’t surprise me at all. They clearly wanted to gain a foothold in the Mac market to add to their established Windows user base.

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On 6/22/2018 at 7:28 PM, SrPx said:

....

Edit: Seems to be in quite a ...

I must confess I'm fascinated by you and how you can write thousands of words on each subject!

For The record Black Ink is just one of those software always in beta and very innovative now from 2013. Just look at their killer non linear new compositing management 

BTW I'm curious about the missing basic functionality... or maybe that's just you always something to say and can't adapt to next-generation software ;-)

 

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4 hours ago, NNois said:

or maybe that's just you always something to say and can't adapt to next-generation software ;-)

 

Well, if that's what you believe... (I reviewed the features list, and how much was pending. Think what u want..)

Edit: Look, you certainly need to start making a difference between the concept of being in favor of "next generation" software, and just not specially loving what you, NNois, particularly like (which seems to be Linux, Black Ink and XSI (well, I like XSI, too, and have used Linux a royal lot, at the job and at home)). I have downloaded and tested a lot versions of Rebelle, I have said I do think it has the best watercolor effect that I have seen. And Art Rage, Paintstorm Studio, etc. I've even mentioned it long ago before you started posting. Those are all using innovative techniques, specially Rebelle. But one thing is pure tech  innovation, enjoying as a hobby -which I do- testing technology previews, betas, and stuff. Other thing is production software. I don't know how many years have you worked as a freelancer illustrator and in-house, as employee digital painter, illustrator, concept artist. I don't assume you haven't. But I have been, for many years. I only care about tools that cover the entire process at the current moment, not the ones that probably will do, one day, if get lucky, and no company tempts them enough for an acquirement to destroy the app,.have not a long story as a company and there are not enough reasons for me to believe they are here to stay (ie, Serif, would be  the opposite, has been a round for a long time) , etc, etc. As I cannot make risky bets anymore. I've done a few , so many that you would even find laughable you statement of me not adapting to new stuff (if you knew me)... It's the guy who had to fight bosses to be allowed to use Wings3D as I was convinced back then -and was true- that Mirai's modeling approaches were much superior to 3DS Max poly modeling. Later on Max had added a lot of features copied from Mirai and other specialized modeling tools (Silo was strong for some time, and they grabbed features from that one, too). And used Blender extensively too, lately a lot more in my freelancing (for texturing, rendering , animation, etc). I don't resist to innovation. I "test" all new stuff, including the top dog, PS CC 2018, I even went the extra mile to get almost great performance in a low machine, just for the sake of the challenge. I've been subscribed to many 3D tools betas and alphas that almost no one has heard of, and that are now non existing. I am a geek in every sense, so it's even funny, that statement. But each one has the right to make the errors of own choice, that's a good definition of freedom, so , feel free to think the opposite.

You have replied to an edited-out (I removed its content) post of mine. Maybe you have thought I was kind of retracting from my comments. Not by a single bit. I just removed it because it was OT and long, only for that.

As a worker in what is painting and illustration, my main focus and activity, I cannot have a tool that don't even have a text tool, does not support CMYK color mode, has 8 levels of layers, is lacking guides,  or a proper PDF export for print, etc, etc, etc. I am not speaking about Black Ink, I'm speaking in general about software for a freelancer. If at some point Black gets all needed for the varied scenario of a freelance graphic content creator (like many friends of mine, a digital painter/illustrator that as well makes pixel art, 3D, graphic design, even web coding, whatever comes), I'll be very sure to purchase their product, even their manual and whatever they put in their shop to support them. But not a minute before than that, specially because I am indeed very used to technology enthusiasts tools that later on get purchased for a brilliant technology, or the bedroom coder gets wasted, her/his life changes, etc, etc.  I'm supportive of these initiatives and have donated solid money to very isolated nice attempts in the past. Currently I have bills and stuff that get a higher priority, can't gamble. Even more : A tool like Affinity Photo, in the long run, can be of more use for illustrations than something that perfectly mimics  oil or watercolor. Apart for some rare cases of clients wanting that very feel, the majority of work is much more mundane, complex, and needs a much more varied set of features.

For playing around, geek-like, and foreseeing what will bring the future, yep, that's great, been there, done that... And will keep doing it. But it has its place.

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Hi, I'd like to add my voice here.

I am an ACR user, I don't like the Lightroom approach. I couldn't find some software doing what ACR "auto" command does. I'll try Affinity's Photo to check it's performance.

I am also a hobbyist paying for Photoshop CC, I've payed for Illustrator CC for years too. And, yes, I am able to integrate a javascript machine in the Adobe's products.

First of all, I try to get rid of Windows and move to Linux.

The only thing binding me of Windows is Photoshop. I've watched for years the discussions and requests to port Photoshop to Linux.

In the late years, it was a huge Adobe "get satisfaction" page where people paying for Adobe products, especially Photoshop, asked to be ported to Linux. The number of posts there was about 1 million when it was closed and re-opened again as a second topic. Now they have retired it, so I can't find it anymore on the Internet, but I bet people here know it. I know that 1 million posts there were made by same people several times, but even if 10% of these posts were made by the same hundred thousand people, this would have been motivating to create a competitive product by other company. As there are Linux video, animation and graphics applications at commercial level already, why not adding some Photoshop competitor there?

Probably, the community should say how many are willing to pay for a Linux version, including ones moving from Photoshop. Why not?

But don't think in OS user base therms. Take into account that graphic designers/photographers are a small fraction of Windows users. Also the fraction of this using a free or a paid software. And from those, how many are willing to move to Linux. That's an interesting poll, at least.

Technically speaking, there should be no more a problem regarding the distribution, as packaging like AppImage or FlatPak or SnapCraft (to name a few) make it possible.

Years ago there was a guy walking on streets presenting to people the KDE as the new Windows. They believed it, so this shows the power of misconception.

Sure, Linux is far from perfect, it has red screens instead of blue screens (in theory - I haven't seen one in the last 15 years), when something crashes, usually there is some applet informing you. But this is another useless debate. Of course, every OS crashes at some point, after some upgrade. Last time Windows did it on my i7 920 system was few weeks ago and I still can't upgrade it as it is stuck at boot time even with the fresh new installing media made by Microsoft apps. This is the risk using any OS, you just need to keep a dual boot system for backup when one of them fails.

IMHO, a professional using a computer in any other domain (than IT) would pay for support for its OS if he depends on that.

And, remember, Android is Linux kernel-based.

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The problem is, is not just Photoshop what would bind a lot of us to Windows... there's quite more software and workflows that require it....And even more : this will keep happening with new software to appear and getting market dominance (the kind you have to adapt to, for jobs, etc), as the majority of users are in Windows, massively. So, companies do give a very high preference to Windows platform due to this. Today is PS and a bunch other apps, tomorrow it will be others... (replacing current, or adding to current ones. Is a snow ball that gets bigger as it rolls down a hill... )

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 I know that 1 million posts there were made by same people several times,

This is common... but one can see patterns in other matters (technical, in the times I've been a site and forums admin, but also even in writing style, personality, etc. Even with some bad attempts to hide it.... ) , even with dynamic IPs users...

Quote

Probably, the community should say how many are willing to pay for a Linux version, including ones moving from Photoshop. Why not?

Due to simple math, the community caring to post around here is a very small portion (it uses to be so for most software brands,specially in commercial closed software) of the users purchasing  or having purchased an Affinity license... even if all the forums posters decided to post at  once, in a way that could be really be demonstrated that they'd be actual unique members - not dumb accounts, dynamic IPs making several accounts, etc- ,  and you'd really get a large % of these users being pro-linux (obviously the majority of posters here are Mac and Windows based) even then, is obvious that still would be an extremely small fraction to make any business worthy -as to take such big risk- decision , my 2c.

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Why not?

Surely because such a thing gets really expensive for a company of this size. Specially when enough income isn't guaranteed by real solid data.

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But don't think in OS user base therms. Take into account that graphic designers/photographers are a small fraction of Windows users. 

Indeed. But IMO there's a lot of people buying Affinity which are not pros, not even advanced hobbyists.  In Windows, in general (whether if they occasionally make a birthday graphic with some editor or not, knowing about Affinity or not even knowing what it is), a large portion are gamers. Hardcore, e-sports and casuals. And masses of average Janes and Joes who just browse, do the usual MS Office stuff, (a lot of them have a lower end machine with an integrated card) and who you'd rarely move to Linux, not even with your kindest efforts, not even installing all for them, configuring all their environments of apps,  and leaving the OS with every detail cared for,  everything. The first bad corner once they're left alone,  and they're back to Windows/Mac. Been there, done that (trying an entire department to move to Linux, family members, friends, neighbors....)

About crashes / blue screens... in Windows....not any considerable problem in decades. If anything arises, easy peasy to solve, in Windows. If you know the deal. As you suggest, basic users have problems in whatever the OS, as these are not consoles, these are PCs, with more factors left to random issues and configs (and to..."human errors"). I've seen my self in crazy adventures, like using undelete functions in DOS/Windows to recover an entire thesis , years of work, with 2 hours till having to present it by this friend, and recovering for her in the last minutes.  Was not just the temporary deleted memory at help, I needed to make sort of a detective research, as guess what... she did not even remember the name of the file, neither which was the folder, or ... area of the disk.... And she had deleted it MANUALLY, I didn't care to ask how.... And this friend is quite a clever person. I don't see a lot of these profiles moving to Linux and staying, sincerely. I'd love to, though.

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Technically speaking, there should be no more a problem regarding the distribution, as packaging like AppImage or FlatPak or SnapCraft (to name a few) make it possible.

I believe that's the smallest tech issue. I'd be to think graphic libraries of each OS, are more of a problem.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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4 hours ago, SrPx said:

The problem is, is not

...

a thousand word later

Ok,

Could you please stop bashing people who simply want to put their voice here? That's not a crime wanting a Linux port.

I think you already expressed all your life on the subject, you probably just disgusted @msdobrescu who came here just like me. His voice is now faded away under your long speaks.

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bashing? I was reasoning...but ok...

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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7 hours ago, NNois said:

Could you please stop bashing people who simply want to put their voice here?

We already have a forum for feature requests & feedback, so perhaps it would be better for all concerned if people just stopped commenting on why they think Affinity should develop Linux versions in this, the Questions (Mac and Windows) forum.

These comments are not questions nor do they have anything to do with Macs or Windows. The questions about why they have not decided to develop Linux versions at this time have been answered many times; the rest of it is just a lot of arguing about the merits of that decision.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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11 hours ago, NNois said:

Ok,

Could you please stop bashing people who simply want to put their voice here? That's not a crime wanting a Linux port.

I think you already expressed all your life on the subject, you probably just disgusted @msdobrescu who came here just like me. His voice is now faded away under your long speaks.

Thank you NNois, but no, I don't feel bashed at all, SrPx has reasonable arguments, we discuss and I enjoy that.

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3 hours ago, R C-R said:

We already have a forum for feature requests & feedback, so perhaps it would be better for all concerned if people just stopped commenting on why they think Affinity should develop Linux versions in this, the Questions (Mac and Windows) forum.

These comments are not questions nor do they have anything to do with Macs or Windows. The questions about why they have not decided to develop Linux versions at this time have been answered many times; the rest of it is just a lot of arguing about the merits of that decision.

I was about to ask the same thing. Is there already a request or should I create one?

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10 hours ago, SrPx said:

bashing? I was reasoning...but ok...

Your reasoning sounds very reasonable to be.

I thought that was the purpose of a forum.

Reasonable people reasoning, not some people trying to impose their views on somebody else. That is trolling.

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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9 minutes ago, msdobrescu said:

I was about to ask the same thing. Is there already a request or should I create one?

Considering how often Serif have stated in this thread that they have no intention of producing a Linux version and considering that they are very busy finishing the ios version of Designer, writing Publisher, plus goodness knows how many updates they have planned, feature requests, and the odd bug fix. 

The question has to be, why ?

Serif customers have been *patiently waiting years for Publisher.

Still, feel free :)

 

* I might have lied about the patiently bit ;)

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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8 minutes ago, toltec said:

Serif customers have been *patiently waiting years for Publisher.

Here we are !!!

Every word of a person wanting to give his opinion in favor of Linux here is dissected by the same 4 or 5 people for more than 15 pages!
That's not what I call being free to express on a forum. You aren't "reasoning" you're using your energy to promote your own ideas and push the other one out.

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4 minutes ago, toltec said:

The question has to be, why ?

I was going to ask the same thing but you beat me too it. I have no idea what anyone could reasonably expect such a request to accomplish. They have made it extremely clear why they have no intension of developing Linux versions, at least until the other projects are out the door, so what is the point of beating this thoroughly & unequivocally totally dead horse any more?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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16 minutes ago, NNois said:

Here we are !!!

Every word of a person wanting to give his opinion in favor of Linux here is dissected by the same 4 or 5 people for more than 15 pages!
That's not what I call being free to express on a forum. You aren't "reasoning" you're using your energy to promote your own ideas and push the other one out.

1.This is the question forum, so what is the question part of, giving an opinion in favor of Linux.

2. What is the  promote your own ideas part of a  simple factual statement. like "Serif customers have been *patiently waiting years for Publisher."

 

There, two actual question in the Linux section of the questions forum ;). Is that a first ?

Damn, another question xD

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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12 minutes ago, NNois said:

you're using your energy to promote your own ideas

Aren't we all?

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I was going to ask the same thing but you beat me too it. I have no idea what anyone could reasonably expect such a request to accomplish. They have made it extremely clear why they have no intension of developing Linux versions, at least until the other projects are out the door, so what is the point of beating this thoroughly & unequivocally totally dead horse any more?

I, personally, just want to notify, I'm not pushing. Nobody would start doing anything if we don't ask, anyway. I just show my interest in some direction. That's all. Not to say, I won't expect it to be done tomorrow, not to say I don't expect the company to change its priorities or even postpone releasing the so expected (by some) publishing application. Just telling my preference in hope that expressing it would add that to the statistics at least...

Off-topic, sorry, Linux lack of support for drivers, software and other things is simply because the large majority of companies don't think should develop for it.

Linux is the kernel, which is available and reliable, it is not more faulty than other OS'es. What is built around it, is the problem, sometimes.

Still, I don't blame Linux for being underrated, I don't blame Serif for not willing, I don't blame the community for not adhering to this.

As a side question, seeing here technically educated people, I would like to know,  on Linux, how is it possible to have professional video, 3d, VFX etc. software, that should rely on color quality, but not design and photography too?

 

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4 hours ago, R C-R said:

We already have a forum for feature requests & feedback, so perhaps it would be better for all concerned if people just stopped commenting on why they think Affinity should develop Linux versions in this, the Questions (Mac and Windows) forum.

These comments are not questions nor do they have anything to do with Macs or Windows. The questions about why they have not decided to develop Linux versions at this time have been answered many times; the rest of it is just a lot of arguing about the merits of that decision.

In fairness, I think this has only been the Questions (Mac and Windows) forum for a few weeks. When this topic was started it was simply the Questions forum.

As the forum name has been changed, it would be appropriate for a moderator to move this topic to Feature Requests, instead :)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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6 minutes ago, msdobrescu said:

As a side question, seeing here technically educated people, I would like to know,  on Linux, how is it possible to have professional video, 3d, VFX etc. software, that should rely on color quality, but not design and photography too?

I don't think anyone is saying it's not possible to have them on Linux.

However, the Serif staff have said that they won't be doing a Linux version of the Affinity applications. So if such applications are provided for Linux they will be done by someone else, regardless of how many people contribute to this topic.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

I don't think anyone is saying it's not possible to have them on Linux.

However, the Serif staff have said that they won't be doing a Linux version of the Affinity applications. So if such applications are provided for Linux they will be done by someone else, regardless of how many people contribute to this topic.

Ah, no, I've meant generally, not form Serif.

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5 minutes ago, msdobrescu said:

how is it possible to have professional video, 3d, VFX etc. software, that should rely on color quality, but not design and photography too?

There is a lot of facilities producing VFX with thousand of license needed. In this case, this is not the developers choice to be on a platform but the client choice "We use Linux, please make this software compatible and we will buy you 200 licenses". That's starting like that.

Design and Photography are not produced in mass by facilities, but they are legion, this where I think Serif is wrong.

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1 minute ago, NNois said:

but they are legion

Well, if I find an Adobe Photoshop or similarly efficient application for photography (I exclude painting as there are enough apps on Linux to do the job as others stated here too), I'll jump buying it instantly. Whether is Adobe, Serif etc.

I use ACR, I click <auto> and the tune it a bit, some "content aware" retouching and it's done for me, I go to the next one. Sometimes I play with panos, where Photoshop + ACR are again proficient (for me). I'm a simple guy. I couldn't find a match to this kind of workflow. I've tried all the major Linux free apps, but the colors were simply dull (even weird sometimes).

So I long for a good app on Linux.

 

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12 minutes ago, msdobrescu said:

Adobe Photoshop or similarly efficient application for photography

Did you try the "vfx route" I mean no one use photoshop anymore, we use Nuke, Blackmagic Fusion, Blackmagic Da Vinci to "retouch" our HDR "photos", there is Natron too and that's way more efficient.

Edit: sorry there's no auto solution here

If you want to paint on them that's another story

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