I am looking to migrate my desktop machine to Linux as (like many I suspect) I don’t like Win 11 or what it brings with it. I have done the basic setup, but when I went to install Steam from the standard repo I ran into a problem.
There is no single “steam” package, so I went to install steam-installer but this failed with a number of “Broken steam-installer” errors, and then finally a failed dependency on steam-libs-i386. (see below for details)
Given the popularity of Steam it’s hard to believe that the source package is broken, so my guess is I may have a local configuration error, but i’m not sure how to track it down.
Full details of the error message are below. Note I have installed the nala frontend to apt and originally used that for the first attempted install, but I have included the output from running apt directly here as i’m guessing people will be more familiar with this format.
Ubuntu Version:
24.04 LTS
Desktop Environment (if applicable):
KDE Plasma
Problem Description:
Steam will not install from the standard Ubuntu repos
Relevant System Information:
Kernel Version: 6.11.0-17-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700K
Memory: 32 GiB RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
Motherboard: Z170X-GamingG1
Screenshots or Error Messages:
(note apt update has been run)
apt install steam-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Starting pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 1
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 1
Investigating (0) steam-installer:amd64 < none -> 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2 @un puN Ib >
Broken steam-installer:amd64 Depends on steam-libs:amd64 < none | 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2 @un uH > (= 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2)
Considering steam-libs:amd64 0 as a solution to steam-installer:amd64 9998
Re-Instated steam-libs:amd64
Broken steam-installer:amd64 Depends on steam-libs-i386:amd64 < none @un H > (= 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2)
Broken steam-installer:amd64 Depends on zenity:amd64 < none | 4.0.1-1build3 @un umH >
Considering zenity:amd64 1 as a solution to steam-installer:amd64 9998
Re-Instated libcairo-script-interpreter2:amd64
Re-Instated libgtk-4-common:amd64
Re-Instated libgtk-4-1:amd64
Re-Instated libadwaita-1-0:amd64
Re-Instated zenity-common:amd64
Re-Instated zenity:amd64
Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
steam-installer : Depends: steam-libs-i386 (= 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
apt-cache showpkg steam-installer
Package: steam-installer
Versions:
1:1.0.0.79~ds-2 (/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirrors.us.kernel.org_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.eu-lo.kamatera.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.eu.kamatera.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/ubuntu.mirrors.ovh.net_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirrors.gethosted.online_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirrors.xtom.nl_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/www.mirrorservice.org_sites_archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.ams.macarne.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.vinehost.net_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.fau.de_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.katapult.io_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.united-gameserver.de_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirrors.coreix.net_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/mirror.webworld.ie_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.klid.dk_ftp_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages) (/var/lib/apt/lists/ubuntu.mirror.lrz.de_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages)
Description Language:
File: /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_noble_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages
MD5: 1628561328c024db73bb48ba285fc9ad
Reverse Depends:
game-data-packager,steam-installer
steam-devices,steam-installer
Dependencies:
1:1.0.0.79~ds-2 - debconf (0 (null)) steam-libs (5 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2) steam-libs-i386 (5 1:1.0.0.79~ds-2) zenity (16 (null)) yad (0 (null)) debconf (18 0.5) debconf-2.0 (0 (null)) steam-launcher (0 (null)) steam (3 1:1.0.0.75+ds~) steam (3 1:1.0.0.75+ds~) steam-launcher (0 (null))
Provides:
1:1.0.0.79~ds-2 -
Reverse Provides:
What I’ve Tried:
Used apt-cache showpkg to confirm that the pkg is from an appropriate repo. The top matches are from ubuntu.com, so I assume that’s ok
It wasn’t until an IBM PS/2 Model 50Z that I got “true” 32-bit computing… Those were the days.
