Steam fails to start on new account because of outdated libxcb

[lumag]

Your system information

• Steam client version: 1.0.0.5.
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Debian 9 stretch
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [Yes/No] No
• Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes/No] No

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Fresh install of steam does not start up:

lumag@lothlorien:~$ rm -rf .steam* .local/share/Steam/
lumag@lothlorien:~$ steam
Setting up Steam content in /home/lumag/.local/share/Steam
/home/lumag/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 154: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
/home/lumag/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 154: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
Running Steam on debian  64-bit
/home/lumag/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 154: VERSION_ID: unbound variable
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
/home/lumag/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb-dri3.so.0: undefined symbol: xcb_send_request_with_fds
/home/lumag/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 444: no match: ssfn*
lumag@lothlorien:~$

Steam installer presents EULA, then fails to start/download after accepting the license.

Removing ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 allows steam client to start downloading update package.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Start with a fresh clean Linux account
2. Execute steam
3. Accept EULA
4. Fail

[kisak-valve]

Hello @lumag, there is an updated libxcb.so.1 in the steam beta client which was added in the 2017-01-05 beta update.

[lumag]

@kisak-valve The problem is that the error happens before I'm able to opt-in to beta. It happens right after I first start steam in a new Linux account. No UI, nothing.

[kisak-valve]

Your choices should be to either LD_PRELOAD the 32 bit system variant of libxcb.so.1 or use LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1 to get mesa to fallback to DRI2, which is not affected by the bug in the older steam runtime bundled libxcb.so.1, then opt into the steam beta. When the next stable client update occurs, then this issue should be resolved.

If you are still experiencing this issue with the steam beta client, then we can investigate further.

[Plagman]

echo publicbeta > ~/.local/share/Steam/package/beta

[fabiscafe]

@kisak-valve Thing is that this bug is fixed now in the steam client, but still there at the "installers"

http://repo.steampowered.com/steam/pool/steam/s/steam/

The first run still needs to be without DRI3. We need an update of the "initial bootstraplinux_ubuntu12_32.tar.xz"-libs to make the fix work for everyone. So time to make a steam_1.0.0.55.tar.gz available.

[fabiscafe]

Any news on this? This is now also a problem on Ubuntu 17

[osiyuk]

I have the same problem:
.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb-dri3.so.0: undefined symbol: xcb_send_request_with_fds

[ghost]

ffs even on Ubuntu they are having this issue. I think I will stick with either SteamOS or Windows to play...FCKKKKKK!

[phgachoud]

LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so' /usr/bin/steam worked for me... you have to run this command to get lib paths before running steam

[derTobsch]

I have the same problem with ubuntu 17.10 (gnome-shell, wayland) - the workaround from @phgachoud worked but a update would be great ;)

[kholyphoenix1]

I have the same problem with Sabayon.

[yanickrochon]

fresh install of Manjaro 17. I dragged my /home partition from Debian, and Steam won't start for an unknown reason. Nothing that is suggested work, and I have no idea why.

[fabiscafe]

@yanickrochon so maybe you're wrong here. Go to our manjaro forums at https://forum.manjaro.org and create a topic for this, set steam as tag, maybe also mark user Tids (me), and we'll look into that.

[rdnetto]

Running with LD_DEBUG=libs and grepping for calling init.*xcb makes it pretty clear what's going wrong:

6075:        calling init: /home/reuben/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-dri2.so.0
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-glx.so.0
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libX11-xcb.so.1
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-sync.so.1
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-present.so.0
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-xfixes.so.0
6075:        calling init: /usr/lib32/libxcb-dri3.so.0

We're using libxcb from the steam-runtime, but everything else comes from the distro since libxcb-dri3, etc. aren't present in the runtime. That's obvious not going to work if the versions are out of sync.
The fix should be pretty simple though - just add those libraries to steam-runtime.

(I'm also using Sabayon, FWIW)

[direc85]

Confirming. Running Steam with the command LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1 steam didn't work for me (I think this is because I use "bleeding edge" X.org PPA, so just forget about it). Running the command @phgachoud posted LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so' steam, enabling beta channel and updating Steam fixes the problem.

[AngryPenguinPL]

Same issue today on fresh install Linux Mageia 6 x64 (spirit successor of Mandriva).

Issue at launch:

[x@localhost ~]$ steam
Repairing installation, linking /home/x/.steam/steam to /home/x/.local/share/Steam
Running Steam on mageia 6 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
/home/x/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: symbol lookup error: /lib/libxcb-dri3.so.0: undefined symbol: xcb_send_request_with_fds
/home/x/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: linia 444: brak pasującego: ssfn*

Fixed by launch with

LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1 steam

After that steam download update and after this workaround with disable dri3 is not needed.

[udAL]

Same issue.
Removing ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 fixed it.

[TheBoneJarmer]

Removing ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 fixed it for me as well. Using Ubuntu 17.

[ghost]

Removing ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 fixed it for me as well. Using Ubuntu 17.10 :)

[deejayingo]

Same for me, thank you kdkwiatkow!
For all that are not familiar with the terminal:
sudo rm -r ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1
All the best,
Igor

[jalius]

Same issue on ubuntu 17.10

rm ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1

fixes it.

[Fordi]

How is this still a problem on the public download?

[raki123]

Just installed the package from http://repo.steampowered.com/steam/archive/precise/steam_latest.deb
using
dpkg -i steam_latest.dep
apt-get -f install (for dependencies)
and still got the same error
The fix using LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so' /usr/bin/steam still worked for me

[okurz]

Now broken on the upcoming openSUSE Leap 15.0 as well

[lagerspetz]

Same error message on Ubuntu 18.04.
Same workaround works after upgrading to Ubuntu 18.04.

[retorquere]

So is the LD_PRELOAD or the removal of libxcb.so.1 the recommended fix?

[fabiscafe]

@retorquere whatever you want. You only need to do that one time, when after the first steam update there is no need for that workaround anymore.

[pesr0412]

On Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS the issue still happens, so I used the fix that phgachoud put more than a year ago above:

LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so' /usr/bin/steam 

After that the GUI started to show and update happening and it seems it is working now.

[bhartvigsen]

Valve, what in the world is going on over there? Are you guys just asleep at the wheel or what? Why are you investing in new Linux development when your client can't even open?

[Plagman]

This should actually be fixed with version .55 of the Steam package; @pesr0412, is that what you were using? What's the output of apt-cache policy steam-launcher?

[pesr0412]

@Plagman I would define myself as someone who is not an experienced Linux user, hence my choice of Ubuntu latest stable version since it seems to be one of the most popular and so my thought was that when installing programs I would not run into issues, I downloaded and installed Steam around a month or two ago so I don't know how to obtain the version number, however based on the output of the command you kindly gave I assume is .55, however this output is after I ran the other command I have stated so I'm not sure if that would have modified this output
steam-launcher:
Installed: 1.0.0.55
Candidate: 1.0.0.55
Version table:
*** 1.0.0.55 500
500 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise/steam amd64 Packages
500 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise/steam i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Plagman]

Thanks; this package version is intended to work out of the box on 18.04, but that's clearly not the case here; I'll have to go dig into what exactly is happening.

To clarify, was your Steam install from 1-2 months ago not working for all that time, and the workaround you just applied let you use it for the first time?

[pesr0412]

yeah, it was from 1-2 months ago when I installed, tried and upon seeing nothing happening I just left it there until I recently decided to google the issue for solutions...

[kisak-valve]

Hello @pesr0412, that's right around the time 1.0.0.55 came out and since you're using the valve-provided steam package, apt would have auto-updated the steam package at some point if it were 1.0.0.54 when you tested. If it was 1.0.0.54 when you tried originally, ~/.local/share/Steam would have held the older bootstrapper with the troublesome behavior until it was either removed or worked around (which you did).

[prashant1rana]

Same issue today on fresh install Linux Mageia 6 x64 (spirit successor of Mandriva).

Issue at launch:

[x@localhost ~]$ steam
Repairing installation, linking /home/x/.steam/steam to /home/x/.local/share/Steam
Running Steam on mageia 6 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
/home/x/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: symbol lookup error: /lib/libxcb-dri3.so.0: undefined symbol: xcb_send_request_with_fds
/home/x/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: linia 444: brak pasującego: ssfn*

Fixed by launch with

LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1 steam

After that steam download update and after this workaround with disable dri3 is not needed.

Worked for me too .... Thanks a lot..

Using OpenSUSE LEAP 15

[TTimo]

Please test this release candidate for 1.0.0.60 installer:

http://repo.steampowered.com/download/testing/steam-launcher_1.0.0.60_all.deb
fc32d588a5b5fe04cd8d0781c6f934cf steam-launcher_1.0.0.60_all.deb

It should work out of the box on ubuntu 18.04, several issues were addressed.

[TTimo]

steam-launcher 1.0.0.61 is officially out, assuming this issue is fixed, closing due to lack of feedback (feel free to comment and we'll reopen if needed).

[bhartvigsen]

And this two year saga has ended. Great job!

[jR4v]

Hi!
I encountered this problem on Puppy Linux based on Ubuntu 18.04, though as here indicated the problem was solved.
«LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1 steam» — works fine.