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this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2025
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And what about Linux? A month ago I still had to go multi-arch on my x64 Debian system, leading to a lot of problems...
That's what Flatpak is for. 32bit crap is moved into its own corner without interfering with any system level stuff.
Doesn't the Flatpak version have it's own issues? I'm considering just installing Bazzite on a separate partition.
I've been using Steam via flatpak on Debian without any issues (yet) since Trixie released.
Thanks, I'll give that a try then!
Bazzite has Steam preinstalled, and in fact it blocks the installation of Flatpak Steam
When I first read that the ship a dedicated Distrobox container just for Steam, I was utterly confused as to what the benefit would be ~~and I still cannot see it. Maybe the Bazzite developers dislike some of the restricted permissions of the Steam Flatpak or maybe they just want to package it on their own but the benefit for the user escapes me~~.
I've read another comment and then I realized it's because of Bazzite's Game Mode session. It's a special login session and not just Steam in Big Picture Mode. Flatpaks cannot be used for this kind of specific use case.
I should add, Debian is more "bare bones" than more gaming focused distros. e.g. flatpak isn't installed by default on Debian, so you have to take that step before you can install steam via the gnome store or command line. It's not difficult, but it is an additional step.
Yes, it doesn't work out of the box. Proton games literally won't launch. You need to run this command (at least on atomic distros):
flatpak permission-set background background com.valvesoftware.Steam yes
https://github.com/AeonDesktop/Project/wiki/Troubleshooting#steam-flatpak-opens-but-cant-start-games
Mangohud also doesn't work without modifications, as well as a couple games having absolutely abysmal framerates like rocket league.
Gamemode doesn't work AFAIK
It is a worse experience in general, but works for a lot of people.
This is what I hate about flatpak. I shouldn't have to just know what random permission something needs. It should be marked with what permissions it requires, and then prompt for whether or not to grant them when it's launched.
If the permission was necessary, the Flathub package would enable it by default. I can't remember ever having a bad experience with the Flathub package.
Issues likeee?
flips table and jumps out the window
Every distro has supported 64-bit programs for the last decade. Why aren't you able to run 64-bit programs?
Correct, so why does steam on linux still run as a 32 bit app and require 32 bit libraries to run games.
steam itself is moving towards 64-bit on linux on well, but fact is that most games are 32-bit and linux doesn't have the same compatibility guarantees as windows since you can just recompile software to run on new systems. you can't do that with old games, so you need multilib.
I believe wine has a WoW64 implementation now, to allow 32 bit software to run on 64 bit wine prefixes. Which means any windows games (unless they are 16 bit) can work on 64 bit non-multi-arch system.
Linux games are the core problem. But they also have a Steam Runtime where they ship the entire runtime libraries needed to run a game for compatibility reasons... and Steam Runtime 4.0 (which just shipped and/or announced a few days ago?) is set up for only 64 bit systems.
So if the answer is:
Then the answer is just "they're getting around to it, they are only just now getting around to it for windows, and linux is a lower priority" because clearly its all possible.
So "What about linux?" is just asking if there is a timeline for the speed that things are moving in that direction.
i think the wine-wow64 thing is pretty new though, right?
Looks like it was introduced with Wine 9.0 in January of 2024
Running Steam should be fully independent of running games.
At least the client. You might still need some 32-bit libs if a game uses steamworks drm. I'm not sure how stuff like the overlay or achievements are integrated.
as long as steam is the parent process it would still matter, right?
You have misunderstood the person you replied to.
this is about steam, a proprietary program only available as a 32-bit executable