You know, with all the packages hanging out in the Arch User Repository (AUR), I thought I’d be cruising along smoothly. But, nope, this is Arch. It wouldn’t be Arch if I didn’t hit a wall where I had to pull something from a repository that wasn’t already enabled by default.
Enter the villain of this tale: the Steam client.
Now, even though my Steam Deck gets most of my love when it comes to gaming, there are a few games I just can’t resist playing on my Laptop (HP Omen 16). (Because let’s face it, sometimes bigger screens and higher frames per second are just too tempting.)
Steam, being its quirky self, wants the multilib repository enabled. Why? Because it loves 32-bit libraries, and Arch, being the ultra-modern, 64-bit hipster, doesn’t have them by default.
But hey, no drama. All you need to do is open up your trusty /etc/pacman.conf with your favorite text editor, un-comment a couple of lines, hit save, and run an update. Voila! Steam is ready to roll.
Nano is my go-to editor because I fear Vim. You can use vim if you’re brave enough ! Edit the following file:
sudo nano /etc/pacman.confLook for the line which says [multilib], better search for it.
See the little ‘#’ there ? That means the lines are commented out so it won’t be effective. We will just remove the ‘#’ from there. Oh! and do it for [multilib] section only, not [multilib-testing]. Unless of course you’re a space engineer and knows what you’re doing ! Your computer might be on fire or your cat might die ! I don’t know.
Now, save the file. We use control + O to save in nano. Use !wq if you’re a Vim fanatic.
Now, refresh the cache
sudo pacman -Syyu
Do you see there are 3 progress bars ? One for ‘core’, one for ‘extra’ and one for ‘multilib’ which we just enabled.
Now you can install and use packages from Multilib universe. Install Steam by typing the following command!
% pacman -S steamBye bye !
swoosh!!
