steam-overlay

Gentoo overlay for Valve's Steam client.

Valve only provides a 32-bit version of the client, uses an own update mechanism for the client and games that is outside the control of package managers, and ships a customized runtime with precompiled libraries. This overlay provides:

• A package for the Steam launcher.
• A utility to install additional native Linux game dependencies.
• Old ebuilds that are needed by games but have been officially removed by Gentoo.

Please note: Valve only supports Steam with their runtime enabled. If you have problems, enable the runtime with the steamruntime USE flag or start Steam with STEAM_RUNTIME=1 steam before reporting a bug at the official bug tracker.

Usage

• Install app-eselect/eselect-repository and dev-vcs/git:

  emerge --ask --noreplace app-eselect/eselect-repository dev-vcs/git

• Add this repository:

  eselect repository enable steam-overlay

• Then sync with either emaint or emerge:

  emaint sync -r steam-overlay
  emerge --sync

• The Steam runtime is enabled by default. If you'd like to rely solely on Gentoo packages, then disable the steamruntime USE flag. Use the esteam utility later to scan your installed native Linux games for additional Gentoo packages required by them. Note that Gentoo packages do not cover the entirety of the runtime, so a small number of games may not work.

• Install games-util/steam-launcher:

  emerge --ask games-util/steam-launcher

  This may prompt you to enable to abi_x86_32 USE flag for many packages due to the Steam client being 32-bit. You can just enable it globally for simplicity.

• Start the client by executing steam.

Troubleshooting Steam

If you encounter any issues, the following links may be helpful.

• Steam on the Gentoo Wiki
• Steam thread on the Gentoo Forums
• Steam on the Arch Wiki
• Official Steam for Linux bug tracker

License

steam-overlay is provided under the GNU General Public License v2. See LICENSE.