Steam Flatpak

Steam Flatpak

Flatpak is a utility for software deployment and package management. It offers a sandbox environment in which users can run applications in isolation from the rest of the system.

SteamTinkerLaunch can be installed as a Flatpak for Steam Flatpak. The Flathub repository for the tool is here: https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam.Utility.steamtinkerlaunch

Caveats of the Flatpak version of SteamTinkerLaunch

• It will only work with the Flatpak version of Steam.
• Currently Flathub doesn't list addons/extensions of runtimes on their website, so it must be installed via the command line or a tool such as KDE's Discover.
• It doesn't bundle every possible binary/application that is listed on the Features page, as that's just not viable. It does bundle general dependencies such as git, jq, imagemagick, and rsync, but doesn't bundle applications such as MangoHud, or Nyrna. You'll need to install their Flatpak's seperately (if available).
• If a software application isn't available as a Flatpak it can't be leveraged by SteamTinkerLaunch. If you're desperate for an application to be supported in Flatpak, you would need to approach the relevant software developer and politely ask them for Flatpak support.
• STL currently doesn't show up in the system's application menu, so must either be launched via the command line, or via Flatpak Steam.
• Certain functionality, such as using Vortex, or other Windows software STL can install, may not work exactly as expected (i.e. missing mime-type support, or inaccessibility to parts of the system).

Installation

1. Setup Flatpak on your system as directed in the Flathub setup guide.
2. Install the Steam Flatpak.
3. Open your favourite terminal/console application and run flatpak install com.valvesoftware.Steam.Utility.steamtinkerlaunch, or you can use a GUI tool like KDE's Discover.
4. Run Steam either via your application menu or via the command line with flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam.

Usage

The tool is installed as a Steam Compatibility Tool by default, so all you have to do is either enable the tool globally in Steam's options, or on a per game basis as explained on the Steam Compatibility Tool page.

Uninstalling

1. Disable the compatibility tool for any items in Steam you enabled it for.
2. Run via the command line flatpak uninstall com.valvesoftware.Steam.Utility.steamtinkerlaunch, or you can use a GUI tool like KDE's Discover.
   • You may also want to delete ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.config/steamtinkerlaunch/.

Reporting Issues

It's up to you where is best to report issues, use common sense and your best judgement.

You can report general issues with STL in a new issue here, or if you feel it may be specific to Flatpak in the existing Flatpak discussion issue.

Issues relating directly to the Flatpak package itself (such as missing dependencies, or things acting oddly in Flatpak when they don't normally) can be reported on the Flatpak's issue tracker.