DEV Community

Arseny Zinchenko
Arseny Zinchenko

Posted on • Originally published at rtfm.co.ua on

4

Arch Linux: Steam installation

Got a new PC and want to play games here.

World of Tanks already works – check the World of Tanks: installing and running on Arch Linux, and now I want to install Steam.

It worked with no issues on Ubuntu a few years ago and I could play Civilization V there – so now let’s try to run it on the Arch setup.

Installation docs here>>>.

With a couple of issues – but it works here too.

Install Steam client:

[setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]$ sudo pacman -S steam

VERSION_ID: unbound variable

Run Steam:

[setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]$ steam
Setting up Steam content in /home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam
/home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 106: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
/home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 106: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
Running Steam on arch  64-bit
/home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 106: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Pins potentially out-of-date, rebuilding...
/home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 828: /home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh: No such file or directory
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
libGL error: No matching fbConfigs or visuals found
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast

Okay…

“Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh: No such file or directory” – why?

The first discussion googled here>>>.

Try to enable steam-native (although I have the commonsteam-runtime installed – check here>>> for details):

[setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]$ export STEAM_RUNTIME=1

Doesn’t works.

Another discussion found here>>>.

Let’s try – edit the /home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh:

...
function detect_release()
{
    if [ -f /etc/lsb-release ]; then
        (. /etc/lsb-release; echo $DISTRIB_RELEASE)
#   elif [ -f /etc/os-release ]; then
    elif $(grep 'VERSION_ID' /etc/os-release > /dev/null 2>&1); then                                                                                                                                                                   
        (. /etc/os-release; echo $VERSION_ID)
    elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ]; then
        cat /etc/debian_version
    else
        # Generic fallback
        uname -r
    fi
}
...

Run again:

[setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]$ steam
Running Steam on arch 4.20.11-arch2-1-ARCH 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled by the user
Pins up-to-date!
/home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 829: /home/setevoy/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh: No such file or directory
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
libGL error: No matching fbConfigs or visuals found
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast

Okay… A bit better now.

libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast

Next googling led me to this>>> discussion – let’s try it:

[setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]$ sudo pacman -S multilib/lib32-nvidia-utils

Aha!

What’s interesting – the VERSION_ID errors still present:

But Steam works now.

Can’t run Civilization yet – but will figure it out.

Similar posts

Sentry image

Hands-on debugging session: instrument, monitor, and fix

Join Lazar for a hands-on session where you’ll build it, break it, debug it, and fix it. You’ll set up Sentry, track errors, use Session Replay and Tracing, and leverage some good ol’ AI to find and fix issues fast.

RSVP here →

Top comments (0)

A Workflow Copilot. Tailored to You.

Pieces.app image

Our desktop app, with its intelligent copilot, streamlines coding by generating snippets, extracting code from screenshots, and accelerating problem-solving.

Read the docs

👋 Kindness is contagious

Please leave a ❤️ or a friendly comment on this post if you found it helpful!

Okay