Steam not launching

Shamshiel · July 8, 2023, 1:08pm

A lot of people have problems with Steam now after recent updates. Here is a Issue-Thread on GitHub:

github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux

Steam crashes at launch with libgudev 238

opened 11:00PM - 06 Jul 23 UTC

closed 01:05AM - 21 Oct 23 UTC

camperboy1000

runtime Distro Family: Arch

#### Your system information * Steam client version (build number or date): 1…687386907 * Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Archlinux * Opted into Steam client beta?: No * Have you checked for system updates?: Yes * Steam Logs: [steam-logs.tar.gz](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/files/11973055/steam-logs.tar.gz) * GPU: AMD Radeon RX 570 8GB #### Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible: Arch Linux recently updated the `libgudev` and `lib32-libgudev` packages to version `238` in accordance with the release upstream. After updating, Steam crashes during launch. I have included the last couple lines before the crash below: ``` [...] steamwebhelper.sh[32091]: glibc >= 2.34, partially disabling sandbox until CEF supports clone3() CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread took 144 milliseconds to initialize Failed to init SteamVR because it isn't installed Assertion 'device' failed at src/libsystemd/sd-device/device-private.c:103, function device_get_tags_generation(). Aborting. crash_20230706184645_26.dmp[32280]: Uploading dump (out-of-process) /tmp/dumps/crash_20230706184645_26.dmp [...] ``` Downgrading `libgudev` and `lib32-libgudev` to version `237-2` works. #### Steps for reproducing this issue: 1. Update `libgudev` and `lib32-libgudev` to version `238-1` 2. Attempt to launch Steam 3. Steam aborts after updating and uploads a crash report #### ~~Temporary Workaround~~ ~~Downgrading the `libgudev` and `lib32-libgudev` packages to version `237-2` is a temporarily workaround to get Steam to launch. The [downgrade AUR package](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/downgrade) can be used to do this. Remember to update these packages when this issue is fixed.~~ ### Solutions See [this comment by devkarthin](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9805#issuecomment-1626486059) for a couple solutions.

Quote from GitHub (User: https://github.com/devkarthin):

Here are some solutions that worked for me. I have only tested these on Arch Linux:

Installing lib32-libudev0-shim
This causes Steam’s version of libudev to not load.

Installing lib32-libnm
Steam uses a library called libnm. If a version of this library exists on the system, it uses it; otherwise, the one provided by Steam is used. libnm makes calls to libgudev, which subsequently makes calls to libudev, causing the crash. Using a version of libnm provided by Arch does not cause the crash.

Preloading/installing an older version of the libgudev
Older versions do not call the failing function.

I used Option 2. to solve this issue. Will check in a couple of days/weeks if it works again without this package. But after installing it Steam starts just fine again.