this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025

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On August 15th, 2025, Steam will officially stop supporting Linux distributions with a version of glibc older than 2.31 (help.steampowered.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Alaknar@lemm.ee to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

To check which version of glibc you have, run ldd --version in the terminal.

all 31 comments

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[–] who@feddit.org 102 points 2 months ago

For reference, even Deban Stable has been at glibc 2.31 or newer for three major versions now, and another major version is on its way this year. I don't think this will affect many people.

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 70 points 2 months ago (1 children)

2.31 was released on 2020-02-01.

[–] Lojcs@lemm.ee 38 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's surprisingly new. Wonder what causes the incompatibility

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The changelog for 2.31 is here:

https://sourceware.org/legacy-ml/libc-announce/2020/msg00001.html

Latest version of glibc is 2.41, released 2025-01-30. That puts 2.31 at least 10 releases behind. That version is quite outdated. There are numerous security and bug fixes in 2.31 alone, with each newer release also fixing some as well.

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 37 points 2 months ago

This might be the reason for requiring glibc 2.31 and newer:

Security related changes:

CVE-2019-19126: ld.so failed to ignore the LD_PREFER_MAP_32BIT_EXEC environment variable during program execution after a security transition, allowing local attackers to restrict the possible mapping addresses for loaded libraries and thus bypass ASLR for a setuid program. Reported by Marcin Kościelnicki.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 19 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I'm curious, would running the Flatpak version of Steam "fix" this by providing its own glibc?

You know, for the people that want to stay on an old glibc yet are also comfortable with using Flatpak.

[–] daq@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but which OS is still running glibc < 2.31?

[–] Rodneyck@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

The Hannah Montana Linux distribution?

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 months ago

It should.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

I use Arch (btw) so I'm not worried about it

[+] Nyticus@kbin.melroy.org -197 points 2 months ago (7 children)

[deleted]

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 82 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

You: *2 day old account*
Also you: *comes into linux gaming community and starts insulting everyone*

You're definitely the pinnacle of chill mate :)

[–] who@feddit.org 13 points 2 months ago

The funniest part is their claim that people were being salty and should chill, at a time when there were almost no comments, and none were salty. Bot?

[+] Nyticus@kbin.melroy.org -67 points 2 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 49 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What’s that got to do with anything? What does account age have to do with anything or are you just unnecessarily flexing to make yourself feel special?

That’s like some 30 year old going up to a 13 year old and flexing because of where they are in life. It’s just…pointless.

Look at it this way: You just entered a clubhouse. Nobody there knows you. You have not yet put any time or work into maintaining the club or into establishing your credentials and social status among the members. After entering, you immediately make a controversial (and arguably badly-researched) statement.

Would you not expect to be much less likely to get away with a stunt like this than a long-established club member?

[–] Alaknar@lemm.ee 67 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What was that promise Valve made some years ago? That they’d keep Steam running regardless of the OS version?

You, umm, got a source for that? Because that sounds like an insane promise to make.

[–] Clusterfck@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Dudes not worth my time to look this up for sure, but I'm fairly certain the statement was they'd support any Linux distro.

[–] Alaknar@lemm.ee 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

OK... You do understand the difference between distribution and version, right?

You need to have a 5 year old distribution with no updates whatsoever to be at risk of losing Steam.

So, what exactly is the problem here?

[–] Clusterfck@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 2 months ago

I'm on your side dude, I was saying chucklenuts up above was confused.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Regardless of OS version? That sounds like nonsense. Only someone who doesn't know how Linux works would believe that.

glibc is a fundamental library that underpins Linux. Its been going since the 1980s and is constantly updated and patched.

Similarly the Linux kernel undergoes constant evolution and change.

No one can promise to support Linux regardless of the OS version because by necessity it is constantly changing. Even slow release cycle distros like Debian move forward with each major release. Backwards compatibility is actually a bit of a nightmare on Linux. Ironically it can be easier to get old windows software running on Linux than old Linux software.

People running systems older than glibc 2.31 really should patch and update their systems. That package itself is already 5 years old.

[–] Clusterfck@lemmy.sdf.org 22 points 2 months ago

I don't think buddy knows the difference between a Linux version and a Linux distro.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Backwards compatibility is actually a bit of a nightmare on Linux. Ironically it can be easier to get old windows software running on Linux than old Linux software.

I've been discovering this on Steam, actually. Square Enix released Linux versions of some games, like Life is Strange or the most recent Tomb Raider trilogy, but they'll crash at the main menu if you try to run them. Similarly, the Shadowrun games from Harebrained Schemes assume that you have a configured .asoundsrc file in your home directory, which likely isn't true if you're on a distro that has migrated to pipewire. The .asoundsrc issue is easy to fix by just making the file yourself, but LIS and TR have to use the Windows versions via Proton to run at all.

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just get an OS that doesn't have versions. Ezpz fix.

[–] WereCat@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

TempleOS?

[–] missingno@fedia.io 21 points 2 months ago

They've never promised that, because that would be an absurd promise to make. This is no different from Valve dropping support for older versions of Windows, which they have also done.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 14 points 2 months ago

That glibc version might not be that old but they do this most likely because of security reasons. There will be a time when Valve will drop 32-bit support entirely as well. Also, you shouldn't use old distros because of the same reason. Currently glibc v2.31 is on Debian Bullseye which is the old-stable version and Valve still supports it. Technically there is no problem with that announcement.

[–] sunglocto@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wow. This might be the most down voted comment I've ever seen on lemmy.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

It is a sight to behold