protonscr

I cannot input any words in Steam for Linux

steamclosed reviewedSteam clientNeed Retest
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#1697 · opened 2013-02-14 by woodelf · updated 2025-03-17 · 18 comments · github
Wwoodelf 2013-02-14 github

I have Gentoo Linux amd64 with kernel 3.7.5 installed, and I have upgrade steam to latest version. However, I cannot input any words in text box in Steam for Linux.
Some other distros are also tested, such as Ubuntu, Mint and Linux Deepin, all with the same issue. So I suppose this should be your upstream problem.
Please check it.

MMrSchism 2013-02-14 github

What text box are you referring to? A chat window or a search?

Wwoodelf 2013-02-14 github

According to my test, I cannot input words in login window, search box, and game startup option box. I can only put text into them by pasting the texts.
I did not meet with this issue in earlier versions last year (2012). Guess this is a newly brought bug in latest versions.

BBurritoBazooka 2013-02-14 github

What keyboard layout are you using? I encountered one person on Steam forums who was writing in Chinese (Google Translate helped me). He said he couldn't get any text into the login window.

Wwoodelf 2013-02-14 github

@BurritoBazooka It is en-US keymap, not zh-CN. However, my system locale is zh_CN.UTF-8. I do not think keymap would cause such issue, and in earlier versions, there is no such problem at all.
And also, I did not type Chinese in Steam for Linux, only English words.

BBurritoBazooka 2013-02-14 github

Interesting... Here is the thread I was referring to, in case you are interested, or even want to reply
http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/864958088411422085/

Ggdrewb-valve maintainer 2013-02-14 github

The system locale affects all X input so it's critical to your usage. We recently made a change to Steam to stop using locales that X doesn't support, but it's not clear if that's what is hitting you.

Mmicfan 2013-03-05 github

@BurritoBazooka I have the same problem like @woodelf . My sys it Xubuntu, keyboard layout is zh_Cn, but i doesn't thought it related to my keyboard layout. And, I come from Chiinese.

Sscottlu 2013-03-06 github

Please save this code to test.cpp:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <locale.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    if ( argc != 2 ) {
        printf( "usage: %s <locale>\n", argv[ 0 ] );
        return 1;
    }

    setlocale(LC_CTYPE, argv[1]);
    if ( !XSupportsLocale() ) {
        printf("X doesn't support locale %s.\n", argv[1]);
    } else {
        printf("X supports locale %s.\n", argv[1]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Then compile it like this:
g++ test.cpp -lX11

Then run it like this:

./a.out zh_CN.UTF-8

What is the output?

Mmicfan 2013-03-06 github

@scottlu it output X supports locale zh_CN.UTF-8.

Ggiyyapan 2013-05-06 github

Any idea ? I have this problem too :(
I'm using ubuntu 12.04 and locale is zh_CN.UTF-8

Yyihuang 2013-06-01 github

same here, ubuntu12.10, zh_CN.utf-8

Mmicfan 2013-06-01 github

@yihuang I think that the X11 env != $lang in bash so that the input box doesn't work, is it?

Yyihuang 2013-06-03 github

How can i check this?

Mmicfan 2013-06-03 github

@yihuang Sorry, I don't care it now.

TTehmal 2013-10-17 github

guys... typing any words in other script than latin at linux steam is not possible.
You have to type in gedit, and later copy and paste to window.

in multiplayer games characters are invisible :> (source)

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-04-05 github

Hello, is anyone still encountering this issue with an up to date system?

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-05-08 github

Closing pending feedback.

Llinuxiorr 2025-03-17 github

I'm not sure whether I should create a new issue, or whether it's connected to this one.

I have a problem, where the Steam client freezes when starting to input text (in any text field - be it the library, store, or chat) the first time after you launch Steam. After it unfreezes, it doesn't freeze again when inputting text.

If I were to restart the Steam client though, the issue repeats (freezes on first text input, and after it unfreezes, text input works).

I'm on openSUSE Tumbleweed with GNOME, wayland and an AMD gpu with mesa 25.0.1.

Nothing extracted yet.