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General discussionUbuntu 18.04 – official support, and things that are nice to know(99 posts)(99 posts)
(99 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 30, 2018
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shmerl: Will a lot of Linux games get updates now because of this? Not sure about Ubuntu, but for instance Debian has no libcrypto.so.1.0.0 / libssl.so.1.0.0 for a while already, which I suppose means recent Ubuntu will lose too. And some engines weirdly link against it (Gamemaker I think, and a few others).
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linuxvangog: Not that many of them. We've updated our ScummVM titles already, for example. The libcrypto / libssl issue is one that we are aware of and will have to address one way or another. Starting with asking developers nicely for updated builds :)
Hey, sorry if i'm writing this too late, but an idea to think about would be to give the tar.gz files for advanced users and for newcomers to start using Flatpaks? It should relieve newer users from making links with .so files and having to solve dependency hells as it packages every dependency inside the package itself. Just my 2 cents and an idea to maybe think about :)
Post edited April 30, 2018 by dewtech
Posted April 30, 2018
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shmerl: Reporting bugs is not a paid task, and it's your own interest.
No. Why should it be in my best interest to waste time and wait until GOG fixes such a problem? I can fix that kind of problems in about ten seconds. I will not do something that takes several minutes and requires the activation of invasive scripts without any benefits. On top of that all contact with support has been unpleasant.
Posted April 30, 2018
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dewtech: Hey, sorry if i'm writing this too late, but an idea to think about would be to give the tar.gz files for advanced users...
You're not the first to ask... in short, it won't happen unless something prevents them from using the default .sh installer format.
Posted May 01, 2018
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linuxvangog: Will be glad to answer any questions that you might have :) And happy upgrades to everyone!

EDIT: As long as they are related to new Ubuntu version support and Linux games, of course.
Main question I have is whether there is serious work going on to get Linux releases for games that currently do not have one.
Posted May 02, 2018
Good news. Thanks for the update, and leaving 14.04 behind is perfectly understandable.

Q: Are there any chances that you publish the GOG Galaxy API so people can create an open source client?
Posted May 02, 2018
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kneekoo: Q: Are there any chances that you publish the GOG Galaxy API so people can create an open source client?
That's a good question. A while ago, GOG developers said, they'd like to publish it. Galaxy went out of beta, but it never happened so far. If Galaxy client for Linux is not prioritized, at least GOG can make using the API easier without jumping through reverse engineering hoops and weird authentication quirks.

One problem with Linux games though if I understand correctly, that Galaxy backend ignores them right now. That would need to be fixed too really, for open source client to be usable.
Post edited May 02, 2018 by shmerl
Posted May 02, 2018
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shmerl: If Galaxy client for Linux is not prioritized, at least GOG can make using the API easier without jumping through reverse engineering hoops and weird authentication quirks.

One problem with Linux games though if I understand correctly, that Galaxy backend ignores them right now. That would need to be fixed too really, for open source client to be usable.
Honestly, the thing I miss the most is being able to easily maintain a backup copy of my games. There's gogrepo.py for that, but I can't tell it to conditionally download the Windows versions of a game that doesn't have a Linux release. And it doesn't have a GUI either, so we don't have to check and remind all the parameters for our preferred usage requirements.

I'm tempted to learn a bit of this and that (Glade/GTK, Python) to build a GUI for it, but I have more important priorities. I don't even try starting this project because it wouldn't be one weekend's job for me, but a lot more. Maybe someone else has the expertise and can use gogrepo.py - which still doesn't have Python 3 support, by the way. It's not a huge project, but still bigger than I can chew at the moment.
Posted May 02, 2018
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dewtech: Hey, sorry if i'm writing this too late, but an idea to think about would be to give the tar.gz files for advanced users and for newcomers to start using Flatpaks? It should relieve newer users from making links with .so files and having to solve dependency hells as it packages every dependency inside the package itself. Just my 2 cents and an idea to maybe think about :)
We aim for all Linux games sold on GOG.com to work right away on any modern Linux distribution. However, sometimes it's just out of our hands. In such cases we face the choice to either ask our users to install some dependencies manually or to not release a Linux build at all.

We are watching the new packaging and distribution formats closely but for now they don't offer enough to consider applying them to our uses. Flatpak isn't any better in terms of user experience since it requires extra steps to get it to work. Are there any problems in particular you have with our installers?

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Pangaea666: Main question I have is whether there is serious work going on to get Linux releases for games that currently do not have one.
We are constantly working on expanding our Linux offer. When there is something missing, common reasons for that are either technical or legal, for example:

- Major technical obstacle discovered during our QA process, such as gamebreaking bugs, overcomplicated installation process, issues with Galaxy features integration or in rare cases even third-party DRM in builds sent by publisher;
- A deal for publishing the Linux version wasn’t signed / agreed to;
- Developer turned down our request to supply a Linux version of their game.

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kneekoo: Are there any chances that you publish the GOG Galaxy API so people can create an open source client?
I have nothing to share here, sorry.
Posted May 02, 2018
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dewtech: Hey, sorry if i'm writing this too late, but an idea to think about would be to give the tar.gz files for advanced users and for newcomers to start using Flatpaks? It should relieve newer users from making links with .so files and having to solve dependency hells as it packages every dependency inside the package itself. Just my 2 cents and an idea to maybe think about :)
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linuxvangog: We aim for all Linux games sold on GOG.com to work right away on any modern Linux distribution. However, sometimes it's just out of our hands. In such cases we face the choice to either ask our users to install some dependencies manually or to not release a Linux build at all.

We are watching the new packaging and distribution formats closely but for now they don't offer enough to consider applying them to our uses. Flatpak isn't any better in terms of user experience since it requires extra steps to get it to work. Are there any problems in particular you have with our installers?
No, I myself have no problems with using ld and chasing dependencies, but some of my not so bright aquintances whom I
converted to Ubuntu are not so good with those, that's why I thought it would be an awesome thing to suggest, but I get the problems with packaging and so on so no bad words here. Nice to see you at least try to support Linux distros :)
Posted May 02, 2018
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linuxvangog: We aim for all Linux games sold on GOG.com to work right away on any modern Linux distribution. However, sometimes it's just out of our hands. In such cases we face the choice to either ask our users to install some dependencies manually or to not release a Linux build at all.

We are watching the new packaging and distribution formats closely but for now they don't offer enough to consider applying them to our uses. Flatpak isn't any better in terms of user experience since it requires extra steps to get it to work. Are there any problems in particular you have with our installers?
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dewtech: No, I myself have no problems with using ld and chasing dependencies, but some of my not so bright aquintances whom I
converted to Ubuntu are not so good with those, that's why I thought it would be an awesome thing to suggest, but I get the problems with packaging and so on so no bad words here. Nice to see you at least try to support Linux distros :)
I get that sometimes you'd have to chase some dependency if you are on a distribution other than Ubuntu.
But on Ubuntu things should just work I think. Install the dependencies listed on the game page, run the installer and launch the game. Even your "stupid friends" should manage that :p
And if it doesn't work, complain to support.
Posted May 02, 2018
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dewtech: No, I myself have no problems with using ld and chasing dependencies, but some of my not so bright aquintances whom I converted to Ubuntu are not so good with those, that's why I thought it would be an awesome thing to suggest, but I get the problems with packaging and so on so no bad words here. Nice to see you at least try to support Linux distros :)
The "not so bright" people wouldn't do much better with a .tar.gz file either. With Flatpaks, they should. It seems like GOG needs to freshen up on what Flatpak can bring to the table. But what it can't bring to the table is the banners during the installation of the game, which I'm sure is part of their marketing strategy, which is why I think Flatpak/AppImage/snaps/etc won't stand a chance replacing the GOG installers.

However, it doesn't too much brain power to understand how to make a file executable. So GOG should rather highlight this kind of information on the download page of their Linux installers, for people to see and learn. We certainly learn more difficult things in life, and this means we can all handle the GOG installers. Even if it's new and strange at first, it becomes easier with each new installation, up to the point where it's easy enough even for the "not so bright" among us.
Post edited May 02, 2018 by kneekoo
Posted May 02, 2018
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kneekoo: Are there any chances that you publish the GOG Galaxy API so people can create an open source client?
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linuxvangog: I have nothing to share here, sorry.
Too bad, because the community can help GOG. You just have to help us with a working API. I expect the management knows this, but just in case they don't know, or they forgot all about it, remind them. Even the DRM-riddled Steam has nice community projects based on their API. A public API can have a huge potential and positive outcome.
Posted May 02, 2018
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dewtech: No, I myself have no problems with using ld and chasing dependencies, but some of my not so bright aquintances whom I converted to Ubuntu are not so good with those, that's why I thought it would be an awesome thing to suggest, but I get the problems with packaging and so on so no bad words here. Nice to see you at least try to support Linux distros :)
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kneekoo: The "not so bright" people wouldn't do much better with a .tar.gz file either. With Flatpaks, they should. It seems like GOG needs to freshen up on what Flatpak can bring to the table.
flatpak still has problems with opengl support and joystick support
that makes it rather unsuitable for distributing games (atm)

and iirc some unity engine games try to connect to udev (for input device discovery i presume). Afaik that will never be allowed in flatpak.
Post edited May 02, 2018 by immi101
Posted May 02, 2018
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dewtech: …
I hope that they don't know (or care) that you consider them “not so bright”. ;-)
Posted May 02, 2018
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linuxvangog: We are constantly working on expanding our Linux offer. When there is something missing, common reasons for that are either technical or legal, for example:

- Major technical obstacle discovered during our QA process, such as gamebreaking bugs, overcomplicated installation process, issues with Galaxy features integration or in rare cases even third-party DRM in builds sent by publisher;
- A deal for publishing the Linux version wasn’t signed / agreed to;
- Developer turned down our request to supply a Linux version of their game.
It will be good to know exactly which one of the above was the reason why the linux version of Metro Redux, The Saints Row games and Dying Light are not available on GOG.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionUbuntu 18.04 – official support, and things that are nice to know(99 posts)(99 posts)
(99 posts)