protonscr

Installing dependency (proton/runtime) make useless shortcut appear

steamclosed Steam clientProton
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#10306 · opened 2023-12-19 by Renarde-dev · updated 2025-04-18 · 3 comments · github
RRenarde-dev 2023-12-19 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1702079146
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Fedora 39
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Installed via : DNF ( Native package )

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

When installing games that have a dependency to proton or a runtime, a shortcut will appear in Gnome.
This shortcut is useless as it doesn't launch anything and get in the way of the search tool.
The desktop file is located in ~/.local/share/applications/SteamXXXX , simply adding a NoDisplay=true in the generated desktop file would solve the issue as the desktop file would still exist if needed by steam but it will not appear in the gnome launcher

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Install any game that has a dependency to proton or a steam runtime
  2. A shortcut to the dependency that doesn't launch anything ( because it's a dependency ) appear on the desktop
Ssmcv 2024-09-24 github

I can reproduce this (and it isn't distro-specific, I can reproduce it on Ubuntu and others have seen it on Arch). Attempting to launch the shortcuts produces a confusing error message "An error occurred while launching this game: Invalid game configuration" (see https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/691).

A factor that makes this worse is that compatibility tools don't have their own icon, so the icon used for the shortcut defaults to the Steam icon, which makes it easy to confuse them with the correct shortcut for Steam itself - particularly on Arch, where the main Steam shortcut is named "Steam (Runtime)" as a result of Arch-specific changes.

Steam presumably already has a concept of tools that are or aren't launchable, because it can display "Invalid game configuration" if you attempt to launch the ones that are not intended to be launchable.

simply adding a NoDisplay=true in the generated desktop file would solve the issue as the desktop file would still exist if needed by steam but it will not appear in the gnome launcher

I'm reasonably sure that Steam doesn't actually need the .desktop file for anything (it's optional to create it during installation), so it would be better if it would avoid generating a .desktop file at all for non-launchable tools.

Ssmcv 2025-04-16 github

Possibly fixed in the 2025-03-10 client update, https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/528714540784813714:

Fixed application shortcuts for Steam Runtimes (Scout, Soldier, etc) being created at install time for games that require those runtimes.

Ssmcv 2025-04-16 github

Yes, seems fixed in current clients.

Upstream links