Yes, that is what I see too: Valve was never interested in Linux, they were just interested in using it as a base for their own OS. The rest was just marketing-bla-bla and grabbing some money on the way.

It's "nice to have" for them, but not really of interest (especially given the marketshare).

In my eyes one sees that with the Steam controller. I really wanted to get one, but now that I know that the real driver is proprietary they can suck my...

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Quoting: tuubiDo you have a solution?

Yes, I have a solution (actually 2), it's (one of them) on page one of this thread/discussion. Add another icon. One for linux, one for SteamOS (console-like) and be done with it.

As SteamOS is a Debian-derivate it shouldn't be too hard to make it work on Ubuntu out of the box.

Other distros are not supported anyway (well, maybe fedora, no idea, don't care)

But just removing the icon, letting us try to figure out if a game is even available on Linux (! Desktop Linux that is!) is ridiculous. If I have to do that I may as well not buy anything on Steam, because I can go to GoG or another shop and see it there.

But, ya, I do have another solution: Integrate with the Nix-package-manager!

Quoting: tuubiYou use a distro that by nature does not provide a stable, unchanging base for applications to rely on. There's no way any pre-built, closed source software can reliably target such a platform unless they statically include absolutely everything or some such madness. There's a reason Steam -- or pretty much any commercial software package for that matter -- does not officially support rolling release distributions. The rolling release model (and the source based build-it-yourself model of Arch, Gentoo and co.) does have its advantages, but this isn't one of them. There's always a trade-off.

I am not talking about them fixing my shit or supporting my decision to use a rolling-release-distribution.

I am well aware off all these "problems" (and they are no trade-off to me, they are an advantage in my book and one of the reasons I switched to Arch, after years of searching the perfect distribution for me)

I am talking about them removing icons, effectively hindering me buying games on/from their store because I now have to check elsewhere if the game actually runs on Linux.

Let alone the thing that may purchase may now be not counted as towards Linux, although I bought the game on Linux and played it on Linux.

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Quoting: GuestThis is fantastic news! It's really great that they are trying to make sure all game dependencies are contained in the game libraries or the Steam runtime.

By doing this, Valve is helping push for proper Linux support by making sure games are distro-agnostic. It will also make it easier for them when they roll out SteamOS updates and to make sure it'll work on SteamOS as well as other distros.

This is bullshit.

On Arch (or any other rolling release distro for that matter) I will still have to delete all steam-libs and use my own, because the rest of the system was updated and the libs are incompatible with, say, a new version of mesa.

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Quoting: Comandante oardoWell.. As a former Windows XP SP3 user, I want linux apps that I can download, install and run with a single click... everything must run out of the box.. The Linux game devs have a very long path to go if they want a massive migration.

Actually that is already the case with most games on Steam ;)

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Quoting: AnxiousInfusion

Quoting: alexJava is however a big problem since Minecraft for one is using it. Maybe you could compile it using GCJ:

https://gcc.gnu.org/java/ [External Link]

I have never tried but with some minor "porting" it might compile. Or maybe they could make the Steam Runtime include Java?

Minecraft was never made available on Steam. Minecraft Storymode, yes but that's a different game. And I don't see Java being included in the Steam runtime any time soon because legal issues.

OpenJDK is the standard implementation nowadays and released under GPL with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPL_linking_exception [External Link]

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Quoting: NyamiouFor those that didn't comprehend, the SteamOS icon is still a Linux icon, SteamOS is a distribution like all the other and if a game doesn't run on every distribution then it doesn't run on Linux. We are not going to have a logo for Ubuntu, a logo for Fedora, a logo for Arch ... if the game doesn't run everywhere then it's no good.

Although the numbers are (not) in our favor... Windows has a lot of versions too, so has MacOS. Nobody bats an eye if Windows Vista is not supported, or Windows XP etc.

I mean, I know what you're going to say, but

If the reason turns out to be additional requirements, then there should be a distinction between "Desktop Linux" and "Couch SteamOS" ;)

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Quoting: BdMdesigN

Quoting: Maelrane...

Of course, one difference is, that on Windows you could just tell the .exe that it needs to install that dependency, without having admin-rights or so... but that's the only difference I can think of spontaneously.

...

Häääää???? You are wrong. read the bold text from you again. You need admin-rights to install any kind of software on Windows.

Na, only if you want to override protected folders, registry keys and such... basically just like in Linux. ;)

http://superuser.com/questions/725326/how-can-non-admin-users-install-software-in-windows-7 [External Link]

but ya, that's basically most software out there:

http://serverfault.com/questions/611499/let-users-install-software-without-local-administrator-rights-on-domain [External Link]

What I wanted to say though: Valve could make it easy to install such 3rd party software on SteamOS.

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Quoting: lucifertdark

Quoting: MaelraneYou know, one can automate some processes with a programming language of your choice.

For a Linux user that might be realistic, but when you're trying to attract Windows users, who on the whole, wouldn't know one end of a programming command from the other, it's just not going to happen.

I actually meant the devs @valve, who could automate the most common dependencies on their OS.

Regarding sdl... it's funny cause the Steam-Controller uses it's own proprietary lib...

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: liamdaweValve have needed to standardise something for a while, I see this as a step in the right direction for anyone using Steam on Linux. Things were a mess before, and now a little less so.

Did you report all your bugs to their github?

It's a known problem. It afflicts Mesa in particular:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/13 [External Link]

Relying on particular libs is not without its flaws, but I can't personally think of a way around it. The nature of GNU/Linux means there isn't one set to rule them all. It's part of what makes this tricky. I don't know the answer, but I don't like this situation either.

One answer could be http://nixos.org/ [External Link] (or the package-manager nix)... but it's not an ideal solution, granted.

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Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: MaelraneGuess what, a Java game (for example) has an additional dependency on Windows as well, namely Java.

How would you install Java (or anything other outside lib) on SteamOS with a Steam Controller? You don't. It would require adding in a mouse and keyboard, going to desktop mode and generally not a good experience.

You know, one can automate some processes with a programming language of your choice.

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