Linux Viewer
in progress
Signal Linden
LL stopped publishing an official Linux compatible viewer build in 2015. Despite this, TPVs have managed to support linux builds in the years since, performing necessary 3p upgrade work and fixing breaks in compatibility introduced from upstream.
Aside from a handful of library updates (SDL to SDL2, etc.) there isn't too much to do to restore linux build support. This would benefit TPVs, as they can reduce their delta from upstream, and benefit users who use linux as a main OS or want to run SL natively on Steamdeck, etc.
Further thoughts:
- Rather than shipping a distro-specific package (deb, rpm, etc.) just drop a compressed archive. This will allow distros to re-package as necessary, and allow the most broad compatibility
- Many linux64compatible 3p packages have already been rebuilt on Github as part of CI/CD modernization efforts (Examples: expat, zlib-ng) 🙂
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Maestro Linden
Merged in a post:
Linux Support - Native Wayland - Xwayland does not work well with 3p viewers.
Lordy Zen
I am getting major cursor warping/jumping, screen space coordinate issues, etc with Xwayland compatibility running 3p viewers on Linux with Wayland. Client is almost unusable. Camera flips out, cursor warps all over the screen, viewer loses mouse focus, menu items aren't clickable, and cursor jumping. Since most distributions now are shipping Wayland as default, I see this as a big problem. I attempted to fix this in a 3p-viewer using SDL2, but there doesn't seem to be any workaround. Other software had this same problem (Blender in 2017), I tried to implement various fixes, it still does not work. Cursor Hiding, restoring screen coordinates, etc. There was work adding native Wayland support to Second Life viewer earlier this year that did work fine, but that code was archived AFAIK?. Fractional scaling is also causing issues with screen coordinates in Xwayland with SL. Updating to SDL3 (where this behavior is supposedly fixed) is a major re-write to many systems. Linux support with full Wayland support I think needs to be seriously considered here or Linux users are going to be without a working viewer if they use a modern Linux distro. I haven't seen any updates on Linux Viewer Support in a while, I hope that wasn't scrapped.
Gieon Arun
Linux is currently not supported, for the record. I think they are very slowly working towards supporting it, but don't hold your breath.
Firestorm has a native Linux build.
Firestorm and Black Dragon both function over Proton.
Fullperm Alpha
This would increase the development speed of the linux viewer most likely ...
Developers invited to participate in that Github issue.
Amiren Resident
I very much would love to see full Apple Silicon support added at first opportunity!
A
Antone Andretti
I support full official Linux viewer support being the norm again going forward, as soon as reasonably possibly.
Ehawee Ravenhurst
I haven't installed my Firestorm Viewer on Linux in ages. I unzip the downloaded file, push the unzipped folder to my home, create a launcher in the menu and that's it. It's going great.
I also have a Windows 11 24H2 installation on the same PC and, for example, in full clubs, I have about 20 to 30 fps more on an Ubuntu 24.04.1 with the same graphics setting than on Windows.
Starting and stopping under Linux is also very fast, hardly any waiting time, while I always have to wait under Windows.
Rathgrith027 Resident
On the topic of distro-specific packages, would it be possible to install SL as a flatpak? Would allow for compatibility with platforms like Steam Deck which could blend nicely with controller supports.
Yavanna Llanfair
As a Linux-only user, I would no longer be in SL if third party viewers hadn't continued to support Linux.
I guess there's always Wine, but it's not quite the same.
00 Python
Yavanna Llanfair on some of my Linux devices i find that running the windows version of Firestorm through Lutris gives me a better experience than running the Linux version of Firestorm. generally voice is very broken on the Linux version these days, and the flat pack for firestorm on flathub was causing my steamdeck to hard crash.
Send Starlight
Yes please!
Darling Brody
Fantastic Idea. There are so many Linux based platforms that would benefit from being able to run SL natively. Please do this!
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