Steam's new Linux beta hides game libraries stored under /var
If you keep a Steam library under /var on Linux, the latest Steam beta may no longer find it. Installed games show an Install button instead of Play, and the library disappears from Steam's storage settings.
A second screenshot from Enshrouded on its own Steam store page. Image: Keen Games GmbH
The cause is a change Valve made on October 15: the Linux client now runs inside a container, the same technology Steam already uses for games. The container can only see certain folders on your system, and /var is not one of them.
Where libraries do work
Simon McVittie, a Steam Runtime developer at Collabora who works on Valve's Linux tools, explained the problem on Valve's bug tracker after an owner reported it. Libraries under folders such as /mnt, /srv, /media, /home or /opt work normally, he wrote, so moving a library to one of them is the practical fix for now.
Sharing /var with the container is harder than it sounds, because many programs expect the files there to match the container's system rather than the host's. McVittie also noted that /var/games is normally used by games installed through Linux distributions, so it may not be the best home for a personal Steam library.
A third screenshot from Enshrouded on its own Steam store page. Image: Keen Games GmbH
A fix is possible but not promised
The client can technically reach the whole disk, McVittie wrote, but it doesn't yet know to look for libraries outside the shared folders, and he doesn't know whether Valve's client team plans to add that. Valve has labelled the report but not commented.
A fourth screenshot from Enshrouded on its own Steam store page. Image: Keen Games GmbH
The owner who reported it has found a workaround: an environment variable that tells the container about extra library paths. They still consider it a bug that needs fixing.
The same beta made the Linux client a 64-bit application. Valve says the container should give users a more consistent experience across Linux distributions.
