Game porter Ethan Lee has written up a post aimed at helping developers package their games up for Linux.
He opens with one of my favourite parts:
I get a game sent to me at least every week that requires me to hunt down some random lib.
I really do love the attention to detail that Ethan puts into everything, even down to how easy it can be to use MojoSetup. Key thing: don't rely on .deb files, MojoSetup has been used to distribute games happily for a long time.
See the full post on github. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
He opens with one of my favourite parts:
QuoteOn any operating system you should always assume one thing: Absolutely none of your game's dependencies will be on the system except for the C runtime and a graphics driver (hopefully it's a new one, but that's another story).
I get a game sent to me at least every week that requires me to hunt down some random lib.
I really do love the attention to detail that Ethan puts into everything, even down to how easy it can be to use MojoSetup. Key thing: don't rely on .deb files, MojoSetup has been used to distribute games happily for a long time.
See the full post on github. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
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Quoting: HyperdriveI'm confused over why no one have looked into solutions like http://appimage.org/
/K
QuoteWorks with most reasonably recent desktop Linux distributions. Well, almost.
Not very reassuring.
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hardpenguin Jun 17, 2016
The quote you picked, Liam, way too much true from my experience!
Last edited by hardpenguin on 17 June 2016 at 7:57 pm UTC
Last edited by hardpenguin on 17 June 2016 at 7:57 pm UTC
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I really wish that he'd also mentioned for developers to stop making 32-bit versions of anything. 32-bits on Linux is dead as far as I am concerned and having a 64-bit build should reduce the dependency on runtimes or needing to pull a bunch of libs from a distro's package manager.
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Quoting: GuestI’d rather get a simple .tgz than an annoying installer.You can extract those just like a regular archive, as far as I remember ????
Edit: writing on a smartphone, emojis don't seem to be supported (hence the "????" ). Here you have it: :-)
Last edited by MayeulC on 17 June 2016 at 9:35 pm UTC
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Comandante Ñoñardo Jun 17, 2016
As a former Windows XP user, I want the games (or other software) EASY to install and use: Just click the "install_whatevergameorapp" file and let the GUI do the magic (asking me only things like if I want an icon shotcut on the desktop)...
I don't like terminal commands; they make me travel 20 years to the past, when I was an MS-DOS user/student.
I don't like terminal commands; they make me travel 20 years to the past, when I was an MS-DOS user/student.
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Quoting: GuestI’d rather get a simple .tgz than an annoying installer.
tgz archives don't have a way to specify dependencies. If the game doesn't have any extra dependencies then tgz is good enough. If it does then you better have a proper package otherwise the user will need to hunt down dependencies which is a pain.
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Quoting: Comandante oardoAs a former Windows XP user, I want the games (or other software) EASY to install and use: Just click the "install_whatevergameorapp" file and let the GUI do the magic (asking me only things like if I want an icon shotcut on the desktop)...
I don't like terminal commands; they make me travel 20 years to the past, when I was an MS-DOS user/student.
As a former Windows 3.11 user, I want games (or other software) EASY to install and use AND NOT CLUTTER MY SYSTEM WITH ANCIENT LIBRARIES, which won't ever be updated, take up space and are a security risk.
I don't like bundled libraries; they make me travel 20 years to the past, when I was an MS-DOS/Windows 3.11 user.
(other than that, of course you mistake "easy" and "modern" with "GUI", and "difficult" and "ancient" with "commandline". Neither is true).
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Quoting: Comandante oardoAs a former Windows XP user, I want the games (or other software) EASY to install and use: Just click the "install_whatevergameorapp" file and let the GUI do the magic (asking me only things like if I want an icon shotcut on the desktop)...
I don't like terminal commands; they make me travel 20 years to the past, when I was an MS-DOS user/student.
Funny every time I touch a Windows system I feel like I'm being punished having to hunt down EXE's and drivers on the web. However I understand what you mean, I like steam handling my games for me so there isn't random things scattered here and there as well as just hitting download/install, ideally any software management should be this simple for mundane single application installs.
Quoting: JudasIscariotI really wish that he'd also mentioned for developers to stop making 32-bit versions of anything. 32-bits on Linux is dead as far as I am concerned and having a 64-bit build should reduce the dependency on runtimes or needing to pull a bunch of libs from a distro's package manager.
I'm not super anti 32 but it's time has come and gone, thanks to your friends at wintel it's still alive and kicking. However there is something to be said about 64b address bloat in applications.
Quoting: GuestI’d rather get a simple .tgz than an annoying installer.for any of the humble/random games this is my preference as well I have no problem running things and then deleting them just be deleting the folder it ran in. reminds me of a time i wish we still had with applications with .cnf files and registry wasn't a thing yet on windows.
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: sarmadtgz archives don't have a way to specify dependencies. If the game doesn't have any extra dependencies then tgz is good enough. If it does then you better have a proper package otherwise the user will need to hunt down dependencies which is a pain.No, the games must provide the libs they need. That’s even quoted in the article here…
Edit: ok no it’s not explicitly quoted :) … But that’s what’s needed. Only insane developers make distro packages such as .deb for their games. Besides, installers are not "proper packages" as you say and I was comparing tgz to installers, not to packages.
Making a .deb is hardly insane, there is no problem to create exactly the same package with a .deb (or a .rpm for that matter) that you would with that "installer", all a .deb or .rpm does is basically a .tgz plus executable (optional) scripts. I'm guessing here that the installer in question however handles key management to "prevent" piracy and that is of course not built into .deb or .rpm so that might be a reason (which would rule out a .tgz as well).
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