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It seems at some point over the last month or two, GOG finally removed the "in progress" notice for GOG Galaxy coming to Linux.

Something that was a bit overdue, since they clearly have no plans to actually bring GOG Galaxy to Linux despite it being the most voted-for feature request for many years. GOG and CD Projekt never really took it seriously though, with even the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account trolling "We can assure you: it‘s not us. We are the driving force behind 'add Linux support for GOG Galaxy' though" in reply to GOG post about showing 2077 gameplay.

Every time I've spoken to the GOG team over the last few years, they just repeatedly told me it wasn't planned, despite the wishlist entry still listing it as "in progress" and their original announcement mentioning it would come to Linux too and that it was "being done with PC, Mac and Linux in mind" (so much for that huh?).

At least there's applications like the Heroic Games Launcher and Lutris that can help you manage your GOG games on Linux. Still, it would be nice if GOG at some point put some more resources into improving their Linux support. Plus, if you're going to be using a Steam Deck, buying from Steam just makes a lot more sense when it's far easier to access so I imagine that's eventually going to cost GOG a few more sales too and they're not exactly doing well.

It is a shame for those that want the Galaxy client, as I actually love what GOG do. The main idea that you can just log in and download a full offline installer is great and their repeated revivals of old games is wonderful too. But without Galaxy, some games end up missing features for Linux or just skipping a Linux build entirely on GOG.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Apps, Editorial, GOG, Misc
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Grogan Jul 5, 2022
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Sorry, but that Chrome UI is bloated rubbish. I can't stand it. You think that's light weight?

It's also fragile in that it gets broken due to library changes. Steam bundles libraries that have to interface with your system. APIs change, Chrome UI breaks.

Yes, I have had it happen. A recent example was harfbuzz/freetype and it broke the user interface.
scaine Jul 6, 2022
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Quoting: GroganSorry, but that Chrome UI is bloated rubbish. I can't stand it. You think that's light weight?

It's also fragile in that it gets broken due to library changes. Steam bundles libraries that have to interface with your system. APIs change, Chrome UI breaks.

Yes, I have had it happen. A recent example was harfbuzz/freetype and it broke the user interface.

Bloated how? Rubbish how? No, it's definitely not lightweight - not sure that comment was aimed at me, but I never said it was lightweight. Indeed, I agreed it's a kludgey interface. It's a long-way from a perfect user experience, for sure.

As for library changes breaking, I'd suggest changing distro - I also had lots of weird stuff on Manjaro, to the point it barely lasted a fortnight on my PC before I moved on.
TodC Jul 6, 2022
Quoting: scaineAs for library changes breaking, I'd suggest changing distro - I also had lots of weird stuff on Manjaro, to the point it barely lasted a fortnight on my PC before I moved on.

Interesting. I've had no issues with Manjaro 21.3 (knock wood). Been through 3-4 waves of updates with it, and Steam and Lutris were stable all through it.
Grogan Jul 6, 2022
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Quoting: scaineBloated how? Rubbish how? No, it's definitely not lightweight - not sure that comment was aimed at me, but I never said it was lightweight. Indeed, I agreed it's a kludgey interface. It's a long-way from a perfect user experience, for sure.

As for library changes breaking, I'd suggest changing distro - I also had lots of weird stuff on Manjaro, to the point it barely lasted a fortnight on my PC before I moved on.

Yes, the comment was in reply to you. I'm not used to quoting people, but that's necessary here (I'm more used to forums where everybody knows each other and reads threads etc.... these posts are more like site comments)

No, it's not Manjaro's fault (or my fault... I actually maintain those packages from source, it's a heavily customized Manjaro). Steam bundled an older harfbuzz library to make the Chrome UI work, but not freetype. The freetype API changed, the harfbuzz they shipped was no longer compatible.

Chrom(ium) is fragile. I built and used that for years until enough was enough. They were better off with the mozilla code based they previously used for the client UI.

All that, just to display my game library.

I did not mean "fragile" in the sense that it crashes. The only time Steam ever crashes on me is sometimes if I've had it running and quit a few times during a session, it might crash on launch once. Then it just briefly verifies the client and launches normally after that.

I also use Steam for most of my games, going back decades in Windows. Before Proton I used Steam on Linux for the few native titles that were available. I very much like Steam as a service. I just hate that software client.

I should have quoted the original comment I replied to. Mine was in context of complaining that Steam wasn't open source. It was somewhat facetious, but it was meant lightly in terms of "the code base would be a ruddy mess" and having the source code to all those components they cobble together into the Linux Steam client wouldn't be of much use to you.

Of course, if we had the complete source code, someone could implement their protocols and make a better client. But they could do that too, it's just easier to carry on and keep sewing more arms onto the octopus.


Last edited by Grogan on 6 July 2022 at 8:08 pm UTC
scaine Jul 6, 2022
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Makes sense, Grogan, thanks for explaining.
scaine Jul 6, 2022
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Quoting: TodC
Quoting: scaineAs for library changes breaking, I'd suggest changing distro - I also had lots of weird stuff on Manjaro, to the point it barely lasted a fortnight on my PC before I moved on.

Interesting. I've had no issues with Manjaro 21.3 (knock wood). Been through 3-4 waves of updates with it, and Steam and Lutris were stable all through it.

Loads of people have great experiences with Manjaro. No idea what made me special, but I managed to run into several issues and eventually I gave up on it. It must be doing something right for so many people to use it!
tpau Jul 10, 2022
It would be great to have official api documentation and Sourcecode for every store and launcher out there. I guess steam is the most likely to do it.
jarhead_h Jul 11, 2022
Valve needed Linux compatibility for the Steamdeck. GOG doesn't need Linux.
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