GOG have officially supported Linux for just over a year, and to mark the occasion they have worked out new official installers for all their Linux games.
It was only recently they phased out the .deb installers in favour of simple .tar.gz files to extract, and now we know why!
Here's an example of their new installer on Linux:
They are right, it looks much closer to what Windows has, and I think that's a really good thing for them to do. Having installers on Linux look and work similar to how they do on Windows lowers a barrier for less knowledgeable gamers. I think it makes Linux look better too.
Forum post copied below:
It was only recently they phased out the .deb installers in favour of simple .tar.gz files to extract, and now we know why!
Here's an example of their new installer on Linux:
They are right, it looks much closer to what Windows has, and I think that's a really good thing for them to do. Having installers on Linux look and work similar to how they do on Windows lowers a barrier for less knowledgeable gamers. I think it makes Linux look better too.
Forum post copied below:
QuoteIt's a year of Linux gaming on GOG.com!Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Today, we want to share with you a few new updates to the way that installing our games on Linux will work. Based on what we've learned and on your feedback, we have revamped our installers to offer a much improved experience, and make it more consistent with the way we do things on Windows and OS X.
Starting today, our Linux games will come with all-new installers that include more features, combine the best of our previous solutions, and plain ol' look better. Among other things, here's what you can expect:
--The new installers will be distro-agnostic. That means that you'll be able to run and try them out on virtually any Linux distribution without any tweaks.
--A simple installation process, done in just two steps that we all know well: simply add executable privileges to the installer, then simply run it.
--Patches. Differential patches. No one likes downloading lots of data for an update, now you'll be able to grab future patches for big games with frequent updates.
--Support for installing DLC.
--Pretty backgrounds, pretty desktop icons.
For more info about the new installers, you can always check out our Linux FAQ.
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I'm just thankful for differential patches. It really sucked re-downloading a 10GB tarball each time Wasteland 2 updated. I wonder if I'll have to redownload everything to make use of the differential patches, or if I can just extract them overtop of the tarball install?
Last edited by hummer010 on 11 August 2015 at 7:21 pm UTC
Last edited by hummer010 on 11 August 2015 at 7:21 pm UTC
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Does that mean that .tar.gz will no longer be available?
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I suspect having patches and more streamlined installers is a prerequisite for Galaxy.
But I hope having patches means that fewer developers will give 'lack of patches' as a reason for releasing the Linux version late (or never) on GOG.
But I hope having patches means that fewer developers will give 'lack of patches' as a reason for releasing the Linux version late (or never) on GOG.
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I'm just thankful for differential patches. It really sucked re-downloading a 10GB tarball each time Wasteland 2 updated. I wonder if I'll have to redownload everything to make use of the differential patches, or if I can just extract them overtop of the tarball install?
Unfortunately, you'll need to redownload and reinstall WL2 (please back up your saves!!!) but once you do that you'll be ready for proper patches on Linux :)
The same goes for any other game that has a Linux version.
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Does that mean that .tar.gz will no longer be available?
Yeah, I downloaded Warband tgz 2 days ago, but I see only installer (.sh) for all my games now
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EagleDelta Aug 11, 2015
As much as this will be easier for some users, it removes the ability to have the package manager control the updates.
I personally would prefer Galaxy, Deb or a PPA. While GOG can do whatever they want as a vendor, going outside of package managers is generally seen as bad practice on both the Desktop AND Server side.
Last edited by EagleDelta on 11 August 2015 at 7:38 pm UTC
I personally would prefer Galaxy, Deb or a PPA. While GOG can do whatever they want as a vendor, going outside of package managers is generally seen as bad practice on both the Desktop AND Server side.
Last edited by EagleDelta on 11 August 2015 at 7:38 pm UTC
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Plintslîcho Aug 11, 2015
Hmh, looks interesting albeit I was perfectly fine with the tar files. But if this will make patching easier it sure is a good thing.
Haven't been shopping much on GOG.com anymore. I really hope they'll release the Metro games for Linux as well though.
Haven't been shopping much on GOG.com anymore. I really hope they'll release the Metro games for Linux as well though.
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Good: distro-agnostic, diff patches.
Bad: desktop icons (I’d rather have a menu entry), need to manually add the execute flag (if it was a .tgz they could set it themselves), less user-friendly than a .tgz.
You can have both and you can toggle off the desktop icon during installation so all you have is just the menu entry.
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Seriously: Why is there no possibility having just a choice? Why not keeping the zipped packages? I want my games also working with Ubuntu 12.04 or other distributions. Now there is more work for me extracting the data-files. I want my own structure and not "pretty icons" added automatically. My system, my rules!
EDIT: Phew, rage stopped. A simple UNZIP-command is accepted after researching. I was afraid the binary payload is not accessible. :-)
So it is possible to use the console with "unzip gog_primordia_2.0.0.2.sh". Hope GOG keeps it this simple!
Last edited by throgh on 11 August 2015 at 8:06 pm UTC
EDIT: Phew, rage stopped. A simple UNZIP-command is accepted after researching. I was afraid the binary payload is not accessible. :-)
So it is possible to use the console with "unzip gog_primordia_2.0.0.2.sh". Hope GOG keeps it this simple!
Last edited by throgh on 11 August 2015 at 8:06 pm UTC
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Seriously: Why is there no possibility having just a choice? Why not keeping the zipped packages? I want my games also working with Ubuntu 12.04 or other distributions. Now there is more work for me extracting the data-files. I want my own structure and not "pretty icons" added automatically. My system, my rules!
I, too, have always downloaded the tarballs where available, but it sounds like you can do pretty much the same thing in the new format according to the GOG thread:
unzip installer.sh 'data/*' -d target_dir
just unzip instead of gzip.
And from what JudasIscariot posted above, even when using the installer you can turn off the icons. You can also change the install directory when using the installer.
I think it's reasonable that they only want to support one format, more formats just add additional hurdles to releasing the game. And it's better that one format is easier and 'newbie-friendly' to allow anyone to game on Linux. People who know their way around the command line can still do the manual installation.
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The problem with installers is the fact that they are not future-proof. Much less than games themselves. Although if it is possible to extract manually that is fine, I suppose.
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To me, this is a definite win. We've lost nothing from the tarballs, but we've gained differential patching.
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apocalyptech Aug 12, 2015
As with everyone else, I am delighted to hear about the differential patches! That's one of the main reasons I haven't bought as much from GOG as I otherwise would have. Great to hear they're finally supporting that!
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The way it's worded, you'd think GOG were the ones who created this installer script. In reality, it's just MojoSetup, which was written by Ryan Gordon like 8 years ago as a 2.0 version of Loki Setup...
Welcome to 2007, everyone!
Welcome to 2007, everyone!
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Welcome to 2007, everyone!If the script does what it says on the tin and properly supports current freedesktop standards (hope so), who cares?
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Welcome to 2007, everyone!If the script does what it says on the tin and properly supports current freedesktop standards (hope so), who cares?
Don't get me wrong, I don't care how old it is. I care that GOG are not giving credit where credit is due, and acting like this is some great new thing they came up with, when reality is they're using something that's been around, essentially since the dawn of Linux gaming.
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I'll ask GOG to give credit to MojoSetup and add it here: https://www.gog.com/thanks
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