Valve officially sponsors Arch Linux, and here’s what that means for Steam Deck
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In a commitment to provide help to the basis of its handheld operating system, Valve has started a direct collaboration with the Arch Linux distro. In one of its mailing list updates, a dev announced the collaboration which will pave the way for some greatly needed updates for the version of Linux. An excerpt mentions the following.
Valve is generously providing backing for two critical projects that will have a huge impact on our distribution: a build service infrastructure and a secure signing enclave.
Levente Polyak
That is a substantial upgrade for the devs to get support for. Considering the new support from Valve will actually allow for a likely paid contribution and work to be done on Arch. As currently Levente mentions that they are limited by the free time of the volunteers actually contributing to the project. This should expedite the process and get the biggest upgrade needed to the distribution.
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Valve’s interest and what it means for the Steam Deck
If you’re curious as to why Valve might be doing so, it’s because it’s the Linux Distro that powers the Steam Deck. The basis of Steam OS, which is not going to be exclusive anymore, it’s in its best interest to keep it going. With the success of the Deck will want to keep the operating system running well and effectively and keep its support for years to come. Especially if it plans on creating any successor handhelds that will be based on the same backbone of Linux gaming.
One of the developers and people behind the current signing procedures for Arch did a talk on the need for the new signing environment if you want to find out more about it. But it should ensure a better time doing so, improving the quality and capabilities of signing and distributing the Arch Dsitro.
Considering Valve utilizes this and has its OS based on this, it does have an interest in keeping it going and improving on it, so it can then shake it up for Steam OS improvements. It certainly has moved Linux to the limelight with this as now Arch is number one in the Steam Hardware survey for Linux distros topping Ubuntu by double the percentage. All in all, it seems Valve is hoping to secure the future of its platform for years to come.
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