Installing and updating GE-Proton automatically

4 August 2024 on linux, steam, proton, flatpak

I recently switched from Windows to Linux, Pop!_OS specificatlly, (and still in the process if I'm being honest) and one of my concerns was about running games since it is one of the things I do most.
Thankfully Valve have been working for years to port Steam on Linux for their console Steam Deck but it was profitable for all distros. Amongst other things Valve have developed Proton: it is a tool for use with the Steam client which allows games which are exclusive to Windows to run on Linux by using Wine. It work great for most games sold on Steam, but for some or for games obtained elsewhere even the experimental version of Proton is not enough.

This is where GE-Proton shines: it is a fork of Proton which adds some games compatibility and stay on the edge of Wine releases.
There is many ways to install it (like an asdf plugin, ProtonUp-Qt, unofficial flatpak) but I wanted a script to be able to run it regularly and didn't know if I stick to the flatpak version of Steam preinstalled on Pop!_OS or if I will switch to the native version, so I modified the install bash script to be used in either case:

#!/bin/bash
# Update GE Proton
set -euo pipefail

currentUser=$(users)
githubReleaseUrl="https://api.github.com/repos/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/releases/latest"
compatibilityToolsDir=compatibilitytools.d/
steamNativeDir=/home/$currentUser/.steam/root/
steamFlatpakDir=/home/$currentUser/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/Steam/
tmpDir=/tmp/proton-ge-custom

if [ -d "$steamNativeDir" ]; then
  dir="$steamNativeDir$compatibilityToolsDir"
elif [ -d "$steamFlatpakDir" ]; then
  dir="$steamFlatpakDir$compatibilityToolsDir"
else
  echo "steam not installed or installation not supported"
  echo "folders searched:"
  echo "- $steamNativeDir$compatibilityToolsDir"
  echo "- $steamFlatpakDir$compatibilityToolsDir"
  exit 1
fi

# make steam directory if it does not exist
mkdir -p $dir

latestRelease=$(curl -s $githubReleaseUrl)
version=$(echo "$latestRelease" | grep tag_name | cut -d\" -f4)

# check if version already installed
if [ -d "$dir$version" ]; then
  echo "latest version $version already installed"
  exit 0
fi

# make temp working directory
mkdir $tmpDir
cd $tmpDir

echo "installing version $version"

# download tarball
curl -sLOJ "$(echo "$latestRelease" | grep browser_download_url | cut -d\" -f4 | grep .tar.gz)"

# download checksum
curl -sLOJ "$(echo "$latestRelease" | grep browser_download_url | cut -d\" -f4 | grep .sha512sum)"

# check tarball with checksum
sha512sum -c ./*.sha512sum

# extract proton tarball to steam directory
tar -xf GE-Proton*.tar.gz -C $dir

# copy release notes
echo -e "$(echo "$latestRelease" | grep body | cut -d\" -f4)" >> "$dir$version/release_note.txt"

cd ..
rm -r $tmpDir

echo "version $version installed"

Edit 2024-09-07: use users instead of logname to get the logged in user during a cron job.

There is no deletion of the previous versions because they can still be configured on steam to be used for some installed games.

And now to update it weekly, copy it to /etc/cron.weekly:

sudo cp GE-Proton-install-update.sh /etc/cron.weekly/GE-Proton-install-update

Make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.weekly/GE-Proton-install-update

And just to be sure you can test it.
See if it will be executed:

run-parts --test /etc/cron.weekly

Or execute all weekly jobs with their names:

run-parts --verbose /etc/cron.weekly

Happy gaming!

Sources: