Linux Steam Integration, the initiative from the Solus distribution developers has a fresh release showing how far their project to improve Steam on Linux has come.
For those not clued up on it: Linux Steam Integration is a project to make Steam games and Linux play together a bit nicer. It comes with various optimizations and workarounds designed to fix issues in Steam and games, resulting in what should be a smoother gaming experience on Linux.
This latest release adds initial snapd support, a workaround for Unity games that give a black screen (solved in later releases of Unity), a massively enhanced "shim" system, enhanced vendoring rules and more. Since they have snapd support, you can now actually install it using Snap packages too (in the edge channel), however you do need a recent very recent version (likely git/unstable/ppa - they don't say specifically) of snapd to install them.
They aren't stopping with improving Steam, they're also looking to work with GOG games in future too, going by what they said in the latest update. Although, if they do that, they're going to need a new name for it…
It's a very ambitious project, one I plan to keep an eye on. Anything that can help improve the gaming experience on Linux has my vote, especially since it should eventually work across all distributions.
See the full release notes here. It's available on GitHub for those who want to dive into the technical side of it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
lucifertdark Dec 20, 2017
Quoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?
Answer from Ikey Doherty (ufee1dead). :)
Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?
The point isn't to bring Steam through snap or flatpak (Steam is already available as a flatpak package), but to bring Steam Linux Integration (SLI) more easily to its potential users outside of Solus (SLI snap works with a Solus base snap, not the Ubuntu core one). :)
Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?
There are good reasons for sandboxing Steam. At one point it had a bug which caused Steam to do 'rm -rf ~/' which caused some peoples entire home folders to be removed. It's proprietary software, so can you really trust that it doesn't do anything it's not supposed to? Also, there's the good old issue with the ever changing ABI/API on GNU/Linux. Flatpak and Snaps can provide the necessary runtime in a controlled fashion separate from the rest of your system which should ensure better reliability for Steam and games installed through Steam, while also making sure Steam or games cannot mess up your system.
lucifertdark Dec 20, 2017
Quoting: BrisseThere are good reasons for sandboxing Steam. At one point it had a bug which caused Steam to do 'rm -rf ~/' which caused some peoples entire home folders to be removed. It's proprietary software, so can you really trust that it doesn't do anything it's not supposed to? Also, there's the good old issue with the ever changing ABI/API on GNU/Linux. Flatpak and Snaps can provide the necessary runtime in a controlled fashion separate from the rest of your system which should ensure better reliability for Steam and games installed through Steam, while also making sure Steam or games cannot mess up your system.I'd forgotten about that little bug, of course installing steam & the games on it's own partition or drive would help a great deal too.
Quoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?
Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?Why not stop asking stupid questions. It's matter of choice. If you don't like it, just don't use it. Simple as that
no_information_here Dec 20, 2017
Quoting: kalinThat is a bit harsh. People are trying to understand the motivations behind the project. That should be encouraged.Quoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?Why not stop asking stupid questions. It's matter of choice. If you don't like it, just don't use it. Simple as that
Quoting: riusmaQuoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?
Answer from Ikey Doherty (ufee1dead). :)
Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?
The point isn't to bring Steam through snap or flatpak (Steam is already available as a flatpak package), but to bring Steam Linux Integration (SLI) more easily to its potential users outside of Solus (SLI snap works with a Solus base snap, not the Ubuntu core one). :)
This is a good reason, I can take this. I saw, that the Flatpak Steam has still some issues.
Quoting: no_information_hereNo. Linux people are awful. Someone decide to make something useful or just hobby project and share it with the community and what he take in return is finger pointing, blaming and complaining. I participate in this community from 5 years and I read only negative opinions in forums. Luckily developers are not so easily discouraged .Quoting: kalinThat is a bit harsh. People are trying to understand the motivations behind the project. That should be encouraged.Quoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?Why not stop asking stupid questions. It's matter of choice. If you don't like it, just don't use it. Simple as that
Quoting: kalinI wouldn't go that far. We have to keep in mind that to question something, isn't necessarily a negative thing. We also have to remember the language barrier, English isn't everyone's first (or even remotely good) language, so people often phrase it in what looks like a rather blunt and direct way.Quoting: no_information_hereNo. Linux people are awful. Someone decide to make something useful or just hobby project and share it with the community and what he take in return is finger pointing, blaming and complaining. I participate in this community from 5 years and I read only negative opinions in forums. Luckily developers are not so easily discouraged .Quoting: kalinThat is a bit harsh. People are trying to understand the motivations behind the project. That should be encouraged.Quoting: ZlopezWhy not using Flatpak instead of snap?Quoting: lucifertdarkWhy not use it as it was intended by Valve & stop messing about with Snap & Flatpack?Why not stop asking stupid questions. It's matter of choice. If you don't like it, just don't use it. Simple as that
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 20 December 2017 at 8:40 pm UTC
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