Steam installation

i’v trying to install steam on fedora i3 via flatpak, snap, dnf. Now i trying to use .deb oficial package. I installed steam_latest.deb file. Start command dpkg -i ./steam_latest.deb in my downloads but it returns:

dpkg: ./steam_latest.deb contained in steam-launcher has a pre-dependency problem:
steam-launcher requires dpkg to be installed first (>= 1.17.0)
package dpkg is not installed.
dpkg: error processing archive ./steam_latest.deb (--install):
pre-dependency problem - package steam-launcher will not be installed
Errors occurred while processing the following packages:
./steam_latest.deb

i tried using alien for installation. same error. when i wrote sudo alien -r ./steam_latest.deb and rpm -U --force ./steam-launcher-1.0.0.81-2.noarch.rpm i got error:

dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME is required
error: %prein(steam-launcher-1.0.0.81-2.noarch) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
error: steam-launcher-1.0.0.81-2.noarch: install failed

I have Kernel: x86_64 Linux 6.14.0-63.fc42.x86_64. How can i install steam? please help.

p.s. thank you

What happened with the flatpak and the rpm installation?

flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam:

INFO:root:https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/wiki
ERROR:root:~/.steam/root isn't a symlink to an existing directory, cannot determine current prefix
INFO:root:Will set XDG dirs prefix to /root/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam
DEBUG:root:Checking input devices permissions
INFO:root:Overriding TZ to Europe/Moscow

and in window wroten: Cannot run as root user

I tried run as another user:

INFO:root:https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/wiki
ERROR:root:~/.steam/root isn't a symlink to an existing directory, cannot determine current prefix
INFO:root:Will set XDG dirs prefix to /home/azat/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam
DEBUG:root:Checking input devices permissions
WARNING:root:Missing permissions for input devices

(zenity:3): Gtk-WARNING **: 01:11:22.447: cannot open display: 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/app/bin/steam", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ^^^^^^
  File "/app/lib/python3.12/site-packages/steam_wrapper.py", line 496, in main
    check_device_perms()
  File "/app/lib/python3.12/site-packages/steam_wrapper.py", line 156, in check_device_perms
    MSG_NO_INPUT_DEV_PERMS.show()
  File "/app/lib/python3.12/site-packages/steam_wrapper.py", line 64, in show
    subprocess.run(
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 571, in run
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['zenity', '--no-wrap', '--warning', '--title', 'Missing permissions for input devices', '--text', 'Steam input devices udev rules don\'t seem to be installed.\nIf you experience issues with gamepads, consider installing\n"steam-devices" package using your distribution package manager.\nSee the Steam Flatpak application <a href="https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/wiki#my-controller-isnt-being-detected">wiki</a> for more details.']' returned non-zero exit status 1.

What do you mean RPM? Via dnf? I didn’t find rpm file on steam web site. Sorry if I don’t understand smth.

You can also install steam from rpmfusion via DNF.

How did you install the flatpak?

I don’t really understand how it works (what commands to enter, etc.), but I have the packages installed there.

steam package I already installed.

steam:

...
[2025-05-27 01:27:35] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-05-27 01:27:35] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2025-05-27 01:27:36] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2025-05-27 01:27:36] Destroy window

Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/azat/.local/share/Steam/logs

[2025-05-27 01:27:36] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2025-05-27 01:27:36] No more messages are expected - exiting
Unable to open display
Unable to open displaysrc/steamUI/spewmanager.cpp (192) : Assertion Failed: Error: Unable to open display
src/steamUI/spewmanager.cpp (192) : Assertion Failed: Error: Unable to open display
05/27 01:27:36 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1747701111)/tid(42156)
assert_20250527012736_6.dmp[42171]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20250527012736_6.dmp
/home/azat/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 960: 42156 Segmentation error (memory image dumped to disk) "$STEAMROOT/$STEAMEXEPATH" "$@"
azat@fedora ~> assert_20250527012736_6.dmp[42171]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes
assert_20250527012736_6.dmp[42171]: response: CrashID=bp-780ca305-6726-4c54-8af1-770602250526
assert_20250527012736_6.dmp[42171]: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20250527012736_6.dmp'', upload yes: ''CrashID=bp-780ca305-6726-4c54-8af1-770602250526''

I had also problem xterm(DISPLAY not set) but I understood how set it.

I can’t remind how I install. May be something like this: flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo and I think I use dnf firstly but it don’t working at all.

I can’t remind how I install flatpak, but i think like this flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo and may be using dnf firstly, but it doesn’t worked. I tried install steam via dnf. error was:

steam.sh[47876]: Running Steam on fedora 42 64-bit
steam.sh[47876]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[47928]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[47876]: Log already open
steam.sh[47876]: Using supervisor /home/azat/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/amd64/usr/bin/steam-runtime-supervisor
steam.sh[47876]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Startup - updater built May 19 2025 19:50:58
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/azat/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened'
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Process started with command-line: '/home/azat/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-child-update-ui' '-child-update-ui-socket' '8' '-srt-logger-opened'
05/27 01:58:13 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Using update UI: console
05/27 01:58:13 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(47974)
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Create window
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/azat/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Failed to load cached hosts file (File 'update_hosts_cached.vdf' not found), using defaults
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] 1. https://client-update.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
05/27 01:58:13 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Checking for update on startup
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Checking for available updates...
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Manifest download: send request
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Set percent complete: 0
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Set status message: Checking for available updates...
[  0%] Checking for available updates...
[2025-05-27 01:58:13] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Manifest download: finished
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Download skipped: /steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1747701111, installed version 1747701111, existing pending version 0
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Nothing to do
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Verifying installation...
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Verifying all executable checksums
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-05-27 01:58:14] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2025-05-27 01:58:15] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2025-05-27 01:58:15] Destroy window

Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/azat/.local/share/Steam/logs

[2025-05-27 01:58:15] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2025-05-27 01:58:15] No more messages are expected - exiting
Authorization required, but no authorization protocol specified

Unable to open display
Unable to open displaysrc/steamUI/spewmanager.cpp (192) : Assertion Failed: Error: Unable to open display
src/steamUI/spewmanager.cpp (192) : Assertion Failed: Error: Unable to open display
05/27 01:58:15 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1747701111)/tid(47973)
assert_20250527015815_6.dmp[47989]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20250527015815_6.dmp
/home/azat/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh : line 960: 47973 Segmentation fault (memory image dumped to disk) "$STEAMROOT/$STEAMEXEPATH" "$@"
azat@fedora ~/D/steam-launcher> assert_20250527015815_6.dmp[47989]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes
assert_20250527015815_6.dmp[47989]: response: CrashID=BP-7fdf20de-1c6e-4bff-86c8-3ff762250526
assert_20250527015815_6.dmp[47989]: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20250527015815_6.dmp'', upload yes: ''CrashID=bp-7fdf20de-1c6e-4bff-86c8-3ff762250526''

I I don’t really understand what you mean (rpm fashion), but I used dnf.

RPM fusion has addition packages for Fedora that cannot be included in Fedora itself for various reasons.

You will need to setup RPM fustion repositories on your system.
See Making sure you're not a bot!

Once you have that configured you can install Steam.
But first remove the version you installed via alien.

sudo dnf install steam

This is the version of Steam that I use that works very well on Fedora for me.

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