This has me baffled. It can take about an hour to compile the engine on Linux, at least.
I’m confused as to why Epic games don’t make a .deb or .rpm available to make the installation experience better for folks. They don’t even have a Launcher for Linux. Even microsoft have made packages for Linux for some of their apps.
if only it was that simple
linux itself is forever changing , suse tumbleweed for example has updates, often every day , this may need a rpm to be repackaged if any of its dependencies change ,for packages distributed as part of the distribution its fine as it can be updated as needed and the new rev pushed as an update with them
but for a 3rd party package it would take quite a bit of manpower (quite experienced in packaging for different distros at that ) to check each distro daly and keep it all in sync , so i can see why they shy away from it
since ue4 /ue5 are packages with a none gpl licence its hard for others to offer that service ,and prevents inclusion within a distribution
personally i dont mind having to build it , at least i know its optimised for the system and no using legacy default drivers
as to the launcher Epic-Asset-Manager/README.md at main · AchetaGames/Epic-Asset-Manager · GitHub seems to be the way to go
have fun
Thanks for the explanation. Since posting this, I’ve been able to wrap my head around the issue of varying package formats and versions for each distro and versions of each distro version.
From what I can tell, this is why snaps, flatpacks, and app images have arisen, with what I would see as a fair degree of success. I understand that these package formats do have caveats of their own, but would certainly be a massive step up from current situation despite their caveats. Just my opinion though.
I have been compiling for now, but ran into trouble when I wanted more than one version of the Unreal Engine installed. I think my primary concern with compiling is that, with me being on a rolling release such as EndevourOS, I’m left with the impression that breakages are likely and I might be spending a lot of time re-compiling. Out of interest, have you found yourself to have regular breakages on tumpleweed?
At the moment I’m using the Heroic Launcher for Games and as you mentioned the Epic-Asset-Manager which are excellent :-). Thanks for the link, and I appreciate the response.
the issues havee been arround for years , but its down to users choice ,
amongst the main distros , debian ,ubunto , fedora , redhat , suse , to name but a few
some use aptget and some rpm package managment , each also have there own specialist role , debian for example is often chosen for servers where gui and such is less important and console only is needed (minimal installs (low overheads)),
ubunto is more minimal hardware desktop , based arround a debian type install
red hat , fedora and suse , suse beeing more of a desktop version (usualy higher desktop overheads than some), use the rpm package managment system ,
originaly the better but it had a rought road of getting that way , apt-get now does prity much the same today ,
the users though , over the years get used to the quirks and diferences of there chosen distros , as it becomes second nature to them , so easier to fix issues as they go , its also why may dont want to change to another distro ,
the other issue that comes up from time to time is specialist distros , that pop up from time to time , more on hardware than software , but some examples are rasbian , used on rasberry pi hardware , where the distro is configured to use a certain platforms hardware
the more fluid side though is software , distros set up with the goal of providing certain software support , theres been a number of the years , and long term they all seem to fade into obscuraty , as other distros start to support there obscure features and support the software anyway
then theres steam , intended for linux gameing , its downfall like “lindows” a distro set up to look like windows 95 for users back in its day ,is dew to not full support of other linux native apps , most uses want a pc , not a gaming box and a applications box , and dont want to keep dual booting when they want to watch a youtube video on how to solve the game level there playing ,
EA and UE4/5 linux support and packages , done right , the .deb and .rpm packaging can work alone , as long as both are provided , as both do provide the system with a list of dependancies it needs , its then down to the actual distro if those dependancies are actualy in the repositories for the distro , allowing them to be auto installed , its if not the user needs to manualy find the lib /module /app in question and install it themselves manualy
beyond that as the core linux libs /modules / and apps are usualy the same regardeless of the distribution you are using ,
some core backends and such differ , ie pulseaudio>gstreamer>alsa , or systemd usage but are usualy transperant to the apps ,
snaps /flatpack/app image’s do offer a good way of trying to ensure it works accross multiple distros , the issue with that atm is the flatpack type app itself needs to be built from git ,as again no .deb or .rpm for it , theres also the fact that its not always optimised fully for the system its running on , as well as updates and o/s securaty fixes , are not passed on to the app image runtime environment , to me this is usualy a " last resort " option where a lib required usualy has a issue against the one installed
not had to do a reinstall since i set the machine up , and before that on the previous sytem could say 6 years or so , still have a file system crated over 14 years ago on one drive , breakages , ocasionaly theres update fails (package listed but not hit the server ) or bad update package , so roll back the update and wait a few days for the fix to go live , then update again , but runs sweet 99% of the time
lto tape drive support seems to take a couple of days to get onto the system after a distribution update ,frequently , causing it to fail the update , again just wait till there and do the update later , but no real biggies ,
all the distro apps (on the extencive repositories ) work ,and need minimal effort if any to get running , leaving apps like this ( UE5 ) that have no distro support as being the issue as far as building and installing apps go