# Important fixes no longer being backported to 2.16 **URL:** \ **Category:** Project Discussions\ **Tags:** cfgmgmgtcamp, rhel, ansible-core\ **Created:** [February 9, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/important-fixes-no-longer-being-backported-to-2-16/45305 "2026-02-09T16:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nlvw](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/nlvw/32/10314_2.png) [@nlvw](https://forum.ansible.com/u/nlvw)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/important-fixes-no-longer-being-backported-to-2-16/45305/1 "2026-02-09T16:28:07Z")
With RHEL 8 being supported until at least 2029, and Red Hat owning Ansible to some degree, I’m honestly confused about the lack of planning around RHEL release cycles. The example bringing me here to post is a serious bug with “ansible.builtin.dnf” that basically ignores “i686” packages if the “x86\_64” package is already installed. This has real business impact as many enterprise applications, for education, still rely on 32-bit libraries unfortunately. This has been fixed in newer releases and backported as far back as Ansible core 2.18. However issues, and merge requests, are being closed when it comes to 2.16 due to the project dropping support. [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/85878](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/85878) If backports are being refused, for the latest version of Ansible that supports RHEL 8, then there needs to be a better solution then “migrate your rhel 8 to something newer”. The unfortunate reality is we will have no choice but to continue running RHEL 8 until it is no longer supported in 2029 due to vendors, maintenance cycles, and other business conflicts. I doubt I’m the only one stuck in such a situation. We can currently install up to Python 3.12 on RHEL 8. What does it take to get the missing dnf/selinux libraries needed by Ansible in either appstream, EPEL, PyPi, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![gundalow](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gundalow/32/99_2.png) [@gundalow](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gundalow)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/important-fixes-no-longer-being-backported-to-2-16/45305/2 "2026-02-09T16:29:23Z")
@nitzmahone I believe you talked recently about dnf, do you have some context to share ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/important-fixes-no-longer-being-backported-to-2-16/45305/3 "2026-02-09T16:33:22Z")
Some of that info is available in [CfgMgmtCamp 2026 discussion (1/12): Supported Python versions, or: supporting older Operating Systems](https://forum.ansible.com/t/cfgmgmtcamp-2026-discussion-1-12-supported-python-versions-or-supporting-older-operating-systems/45288) See [Support core packaging operations against older python versions by sivel · Pull Request #86432 · ansible/ansible · GitHub](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/86432) And also: [Ansible supported Python version on \_target\_ - #15 by Thulium-Drake](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-supported-python-version-on-target/44863/15) ---
**Author:** ![nlvw](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/nlvw/32/10314_2.png) [@nlvw](https://forum.ansible.com/u/nlvw)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/important-fixes-no-longer-being-backported-to-2-16/45305/4 "2026-02-09T16:45:08Z")
This is exciting news and I really hope it gets pushed through! It has really felt, since the original announcement about dropping Python 3.6, like the core+community Ansible teams have been both ignoring and suppressing this issue. I hope this marks a change in that attitude.