Steam

[abickerton]

Hi,

Given the amount of attention on the Steam release, I feel it's important that Linux Mint (Particularly LMDE) be in a position to take advantage of the situation. If the situation remains, we will see 99% of potential new LMDE user go to Ubuntu for the sole reason that Steam could not be installed easily.
/rant

As of today the remaining hurdle is an outdated libc6 (2.13-37). Unless the required (2.15) can be added to the repos as a priority, How can this be overcome easily?

Personally, I don't think adding yet another repository is a viable solution in the long term. A MUCH better solution would be to have more frequent updates, but that has been said on multiple occasions elsewhere in the forum. To be clear, We need the core stuff (libc, gfx drivers, mesa etc) updating much more ofter, user applications, not so much.

Here's my repo list for completeness.

Code: Select all

$inxi -r

Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb-src http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb-src http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb-src http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
           deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb http://lmde-mirror-fr-1.wedrop.it/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib non-free
           deb http://opensource.wandisco.com/debian/ squeeze svn17
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
           deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mate.list
           deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/debian wheezy main
           deb-src http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/debian wheezy main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/multisystem.list
           deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main


[fig_wright]

I agree. How is it that Mint is based on Ubuntu but cant yet install Steam from the Software centre, yet Gentoo is based on something else and already has a wrapper in place to use the Ubuntu .debs? This is not Good.

[zerozero]

we will see 99% of potential new LMDE user go to Ubuntu

really? 99%? 99% of the users make the distro choice based on gaming?

As of today the remaining hurdle is an outdated libc6 (2.13-37). Unless the required (2.15) can be added to the repos as a priority, How can this be overcome easily?

2.15 is in experimental, grab it from there, install steam, be happy

[abickerton]

Zerozero,

Ok, 99% is an exaggeration. But you have to admit, the release of Steam is going to draw a lot of people towards Linux, they are probably not going to be hardcore Linux people either. I would rather the all don't just go to Ubuntu by default.

In trying to solve this, I found that 2.15 is only in experimental so root of the issue is with Valve.

The fact that such a high profile release uses something considered worse than unstable is maybe a wider Debian issue IMO. What's likely to happen when a new LMDE user reads this thread, is that they'll immediately go an use experimental, have a breakage and then complain LMDE is not reliable and they go elsewhere.
Sad, but a fairly likely scenario.

One option could be to provide an update pack with the experimental packages, when say a major package like Steam comes along.
That way you're only updating the parts that really have to be updated and you can keep some form of quality. Otherwise what is the point of the update packs if user just track testing, unstable, sid?

Just a though...

[rop75]

I don't think that steam is going to bring more people to the Linux world. People use Linux for other reasons (security, safety, open source...). And people who want to play video games in their PC, use Windows (so I don't think that many Windows are going to move to Linux because of steam, you know they find Linux is "too complicated").

What steam might get, is that Linux users don't need to use Windows 8 to play (so they don't need to install windows in their computers).

As far as the update packages are concerned: They were created just to provide LMDE users with a stable OS (more stable than testing or sid) they were not created to play video games, and with that goal in mind there is not point in basing LMDE on sid +experimental.

If you don't like the LMDE update package system, you can move to Testing or sid (they are a bit outdated at the moment -because testing will be frozen until next Debian stable version is released-, but in two months, you will have the latest packages available in their repos). You are right when you say that it would be nice if more frequent update packs were released, but Linux Mint team is a small team, and they run lots of projects, so I don't think they have manpower enough to provide LMDE users with weekly update packs.

[killer de bug]

What's likely to happen when a new LMDE user reads this thread, is that they'll immediately go an use experimental, have a breakage and then complain LMDE is not reliable and they go elsewhere.
Sad, but a fairly likely scenario.

LMDE is not for newbies. So this problem will not happen.
And Linut Mint Main users can use the ubuntu steam package. I don't see any problem here

[algarues]

I ran this script from a folder in my home and everything works perfectly
i also bought a couple of games
i found it on github

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
#
# Steam installer for Debian wheezy (32- and 64-bit)
#
# Place into empty directory and run.
#

download() {
    local url="$1"
    local filename="$(basename "$url")"

    if [ ! -f "$filename" ]; then
        wget -c "$url" -O "$filename.part"
        mv "$filename.part" "$filename"
    fi
}

package() {
    local url="$1"
    local target="$2"

    download "$url"

    mkdir -p "$target"
    ar p "$(basename "$url")" data.tar.gz | tar xz -C "$target"
}

set -e

package http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb "${PWD}/tree"

STEAMPACKAGE="steam"
STEAMCONFIG="${HOME}/.steam"
STEAMDATALINK="${STEAMCONFIG}/${STEAMCONFIG}"
STEAMBOOTSTRAP="steam.sh"
LAUNCHSTEAMDIR="$(readlink -eq "${STEAMDATALINK}" || echo)"
LAUNCHSTEAMPLATFORM="ubuntu12_32"
LAUNCHSTEAMBOOTSTRAPFILE="${PWD}/tree/usr/lib/steam/bootstraplinux_${LAUNCHSTEAMPLATFORM}.tar.xz"
STEAM_DATA_HOME=${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}
CLASSICSTEAMDIR="$HOME/Steam"
DEFAULTSTEAMDIR="$STEAM_DATA_HOME/Steam"

STEAMDIR="${DEFAULTSTEAMDIR}"

if [ ! -d "$STEAMCONFIG" ]; then
    mkdir "$STEAMCONFIG"
fi

echo "Setting up Steam content in $STEAMDIR"

mkdir -p "${STEAMDIR}"
tar xJf "${LAUNCHSTEAMBOOTSTRAPFILE}" -C "${STEAMDIR}"

cat > "${STEAMDIR}/steam_on_debian.sh" <<EOF
#!/bin/sh
STEAMDIR="\$(readlink -f "\$(dirname "\$0")")"
if [ -z "\${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}" ]; then
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH="\${STEAMDIR}/compat_libraries/lib/i386-linux-gnu"
else
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH="\${STEAMDIR}/compat_libraries/lib/i386-linux-gnu:\${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
fi

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

exec "\${STEAMDIR}/steam.sh" "\$@"
EOF

chmod +x "${STEAMDIR}/steam_on_debian.sh"

echo "Installing Ubuntu packages"

mkdir -p "${STEAMDIR}/compat_libraries"
package http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/eglibc/libc6_2.15-0ubuntu10.2_i386.deb "${STEAMDIR}/compat_libraries"

echo "Installing desktop files"
mkdir -p "${STEAM_DATA_HOME}/applications"
sed "s!/usr/bin/steam!${STEAMDIR}/steam_on_debian.sh!" tree/usr/share/applications/steam.desktop > "${STEAM_DATA_HOME}/applications/steam.desktop"
cp -R tree/usr/share/icons "${STEAM_DATA_HOME}"

echo "Adding Steam to PATH"
MAGIC_LINE="[[ -f \"${STEAMDIR}/setup_debian_environment.sh\" ]] && source \"${STEAMDIR}/setup_debian_environment.sh\""

cat > "${STEAMDIR}/setup_debian_environment.sh" <<EOF
if ! which steam > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    PATH="${STEAMDIR}/debian_bin:${PATH}"
    export PATH
fi
EOF

mkdir -p "${STEAMDIR}/debian_bin"

cat > "${STEAMDIR}/debian_bin/steam" <<EOF
#!/bin/sh
exec "${STEAMDIR}/steam_on_debian.sh" "$@"
EOF

chmod +x "${STEAMDIR}/debian_bin/steam"

if ! grep -qxF "${MAGIC_LINE}" "${HOME}/.bashrc"; then
    echo "$MAGIC_LINE" >> "${HOME}/.bashrc"

    echo
    echo "Steam was added to your profile. Please relogin or source ~/.bashrc."
    echo
fi

echo "To uninstall:"
echo "rm -rf ${STEAM_DIR}"
echo "rm -f everything steamish from ${STEAM_DATA_HOME}/applications"
echo "remove ${MAGIC_LINE} from ${HOME}/.bashrc"


[abickerton]

can you briefly explain what the script is doing?

@killer de bug

[not wanting to troll]
I read somewhere in this very forum that, using Ubuntu debs is a bad idea. Is that really the direction you expect me to be going.

[killer de bug]

@killer de bug

[not wanting to troll]
I read somewhere in this very forum that, using Ubuntu debs is a bad idea. Is that really the direction you expect me to be going.

Maybe you should read more carefully what I said... I said that you can use it with Mint Main. Not with LMDE. But you need to read carefully...

[algarues]

can you briefly explain what the script is doing?

@killer de bug

[not wanting to troll]
I read somewhere in this very forum that, using Ubuntu debs is a bad idea. Is that really the direction you expect me to be going.

This script does not install Ubuntu debs on your system

it creates a .steam folder in your home directory where all of the ubuntu-based dependencies are installed.

then steam access those to run.

It looks like to me something similar to a statically linked app (e.g. skype)

In fact, the ubuntu repositories listed in the script are used to download the packages, they are not even added in your regular apt sources

The integrity of your debian system in "/" is maintained (which I like a lot, since it is rock-stable and faster than ubuntu)

the link where I found the script is

https://gist.github.com/grindars/4231563

[zerozero]

with steam 1.0.0.28 installation on debian is much easier (this is not to say that is eaaaasy or that it will work for everybody)
all the dep steam requires are now in the debian repos (once you install it successfully and launch for the first time it will think that needs jockey-gtk - an ubuntu-only package - but you can dismiss that prompt and steam will run without problems)

the only problem at this point is libc6:i386: steam requires an higher version than the one available in testing/sid, so you need to install this package from experimental

Code: Select all

deb-kde zerozero # aptitude install -t experimental libc6:i386
The following packages will be upgraded:
  libc6 libc6:i386 locales locales-all
4 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 511 not upgrade

[abickerton]

Thanks zerozero,

I'll give that a try and report back...

Well, you learn something new everyday...I was not aware you could install from a different release with aptitude.
for details... http://geemoo.ca/blog/236/installing-ex ... an-testing

After adding the experimental repository to sources /etc/apt/sources.list.
I'm presented with a rather large list packages that'll be removed. While most are ok due to being dev libraries, g++ is the blocker. Doing that would remove even more packages that I use daily.

It looks like I'll have to wait a bit... or am I missing something.

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free


Code: Select all

alec@main ~ $ sudo aptitude install -t experimental libc6:i386
The following packages will be REMOVED: 
  linux-kbuild-3.2{u}
The following packages will be upgraded:
  libc6 locales
2 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 613 not upgraded.
Need to get 7,961 kB of archives. After unpacking 28.7 kB will be used.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libc-dev-bin : Depends: libc6 (< 2.14) but 2.17-0experimental2 is to be installed.
 libc6-i686 : PreDepends: libc6 (= 2.13-37) but 2.17-0experimental2 is to be installed.
 libc6-dbg : Depends: libc6 (= 2.13-37) but 2.17-0experimental2 is to be installed.
 libc6-dev : Depends: libc6 (= 2.13-37) but 2.17-0experimental2 is to be installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

      Remove the following packages:                           
1)      build-essential                                         
2)      comerr-dev                                             
3)      g++                                                     
4)      g++-4.4                                                 
5)      g++-4.6                                                 
6)      g++-4.7                                                 
7)      kernel-package                                         
8)      krb5-multidev                                           
9)      libasound2-dev                                         
10)     libatk1.0-dev                                           
11)     libavahi-glib-dev                                       
12)     libbz2-dev                                             
13)     libc-dev-bin                                           
14)     libc6-dbg                                               
15)     libc6-dev                                               
16)     libc6-i686                                             
17)     libcaca-dev                                             
18)     libcairo2-dev                                           
19)     libcups2-dev                                           
20)     libdbus-glib-1-dev                                     
21)     libdbusmenu-glib-dev                                   
22)     libdirectfb-dev                                         
23)     libexpat1-dev                                           
24)     libfontconfig1-dev                                     
25)     libfreetype6-dev                                       
26)     libgconf2-dev                                           
27)     libgcrypt11-dev                                         
28)     libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev                                   
29)     libglade2-dev                                           
30)     libglib2.0-dev                                         
31)     libgnomevfs2-dev                                       
32)     libgnutls-dev                                           
33)     libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev                       
34)     libgstreamer0.10-dev                                   
35)     libgtk2.0-dev                                           
36)     libjpeg8-dev                                           
37)     libkrb5-dev                                             
38)     liblua5.1-0-dev                                         
39)     libmikmod2-dev                                         
40)     libncurses5-dev                                         
41)     libpango1.0-dev                                         
42)     libpcre3-dev                                           
43)     libpng12-dev                                           
44)     libpulse-dev                                           
45)     libsdl-image1.2-dev                                     
46)     libsdl-mixer1.2-dev                                     
47)     libsdl1.2-dev                                           
48)     libslang2-dev                                           
49)     libstdc++6-4.4-dev                                     
50)     libstdc++6-4.6-dev                                     
51)     libstdc++6-4.7-dev                                     
52)     libtiff4-dev                                           
53)     libtool                                                 
54)     libwxbase2.8-dbg                                       
55)     libwxbase2.8-dev                                       
56)     libwxgtk2.8-dbg                                         
57)     libwxgtk2.8-dev                                         
58)     libxft-dev                                             
59)     lsb                                                     
60)     lsb-core                                               
61)     lsb-cxx                                                 
62)     lsb-desktop                                             
63)     lsb-graphics                                           
64)     lsb-languages                                           
65)     lsb-multimedia                                         
66)     lsb-printing                                           
67)     valgrind                                               
68)     valgrind-dbg                                           
69)     zlib1g-dev                                             

      Leave the following dependencies unresolved:             
70)     codeblocks-contrib recommends valgrind                 
71)     dpkg-dev recommends build-essential                     
72)     gcc-4.4 recommends libc6-dev (>= 2.13-5)               
73)     gcc-4.6 recommends libc6-dev (>= 2.13-5)               
74)     gcc-4.7 recommends libc6-dev (>= 2.13-5)               
75)     gcc recommends libc6-dev | libc-dev                     
76)     libltdl-dev recommends libtool                         
77)     linux-image-3.2.0-4-686-pae recommends libc6-i686       
78)     lsb-security recommends lsb-core (>= 4.1+Debian8)       
79)     liblua5.1-0-dev recommends libtool                     
80)     libc6 recommends libc6-i686                             
81)     linux-headers-3.8.0-rc5+ recommends libc6-dev | libc-dev


[zerozero]

run again the same command, answer no and post back the second option aptitude presents you

[abickerton]

Ok, here's what I was offered...

Code: Select all

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] n
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Remove the following packages:                                               
1)     libc6-dbg                                                                 
2)     valgrind                                                                   
3)     valgrind-dbg                                                               

     Upgrade the following packages:                                             
4)     libc-dev-bin [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)]
5)     libc6-dev [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)]   
6)     libc6-i686 [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)] 

     Leave the following dependencies unresolved:                                 
7)     codeblocks-contrib recommends valgrind                                     


Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] n
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Upgrade the following packages:                                             
1)     libc-dev-bin [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)]
2)     libc6-dbg [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)]   
3)     libc6-dev [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)]   
4)     libc6-i686 [2.13-37 (now, testing) -> 2.17-0experimental2 (experimental)] 


I'll give the last option a try...after all that messing about, Steam won't play nice.

Code: Select all

Running Steam on linuxmint 1 32-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
/home/alec/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 561:  9798 Segmentation fault      $STEAM_DEBUGGER "$STEAMROOT/$PLATFORM/$STEAMEXE" "$@"
Installing bootstrap /home/user/.local/share/Steam/bootstrap.tar.xz
Running Steam on linuxmint 1 32-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME has been set by the user to: /home/user/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
/home/user/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 561:  9866 Segmentation fault      $STEAM_DEBUGGER "$STEAMROOT/$PLATFORM/$STEAMEXE" "$@"