openSUSE Leap 16.0 has entered the Release Candidate phase, and for anyone gaming on Steam with openSUSE Leap you'll need some tweaks. openSUSE doesn't actually register in Valve's data for the top Linux distributions used, but still some might be interested to know about this.
In the RC release announcement, there's this bit noted for Steam users:
Steam, Wine, 32-bit support
SUSE Linux Enterprise 16.0 does not support 32-bit binary execution.
Leap users can installgrub2-compat-ia32, which enables it by passingia32_emulation=1to the kernel.
We’ve recently dropped Steam from the Non-OSS repository due to a limited set of 32-bit libraries.
Steam users will want to installselinux-policy-targeted-gaming, which is not installed by default.
We all saw what happened with Fedora when a proposal was put to drop 32-bit didn't we? Sounds like another messy situation. I wonder how much backlash this will end up causing for the openSUSE Leap developers.
To me, all this says is that openSUSE Leap 16.0 is not going to be a good pick for gaming on Linux. And that's fine, not every Linux distribution out there needs to focus on every possible use case, but this will cause friction for people. Then again, if you're using something like openSUSE Leap, you're probably a seasoned Linux user.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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rea987 a day ago
Regarding cutting 32 Bit ... look, what happened on the macos side in that regard.
Made me spend an entire day to reinstall Mojave, diddling with Steam installation commands to downgrade Steam to a compatible version and hunt for essential compatible software such as web browser, office suite, etc... To put simply, pain for users. It shouldn't be a rocket science to keep an already working arch. Morons...
RedWyvern a day ago
Tumbleweed supports many things which Leap does not, since it can deviate more from SUSE Linux Enterprise.
E.g Leap now requires x86_64_v2, while Tumbleweed will continue to work on x86_64_v1.
YaST will continue to be available as-is for Tumbleweed, while it is getting deprecated from Leap.
And having to install dependencies like this is not new either, since you already need to run opi codecs for hardware encoding to function.
The Leap migration tool already takes care of enabling 32-bit support, but there is no mention of this coming to Tumbleweed yet.
pageround a day ago
I like tumbleweed but wanted something *even more* stable. I guess i'll wait for 16.1 or switch to tumbleweed, or screw it all and jump to FreeBSD. Afterall, one if the motivating factors of moving to SuSE 21 years ago was to avoid wasting too much time gaming! Windows had 99.9% of all titles and wine couldnt do much.
Liam, maybe think about registering gamingonbsd.com? I'll figure out how to waste (and enjoy) my time sonehow.
user1 20 hours ago
- Wine 32 Bit on Wine 64 STILL needs a set of 32 Bit libraries. That is not a solution, but moving the libraries around.
That is absolutely wrong. Where did you get that from? Starting with Wine 9.0 there is no need for any native 32 bit libs for the new Wine 32 Bit on Wine 64 (WOW64) mode, including graphics drivers.
Last edited by user1 on 6 Aug 2025 at 10:24 am UTC
Xetal 18 hours ago
Simple solution: use openSUSE Tumbleweed instead of Leap
tuxer415 17 hours ago
Maybe someday microsoft and game companies to make only 64 bit games and not supported by 32 bit OSes
scorp10n2000 13 hours ago
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