Arch Linux

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

"Failed to load steamui.so"

I keep getting this message (pops up in a Steam ui box): "Fatal error: Failed to load Steamui.so".

I've gone through various solutions in the Arch wiki, and tried moving/renaming ~/.steam and ~/.local/share/Steam to force Steam to redownload &c. and it always ends back in the same error ("failed to load steamui.so").

The closest to my situation I can find via Google is:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions … steamuiso/

and

- https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions … steamuiso/

which refer to creating a file `/etc/ld.so.conf.d/steam.conf` with content:

/usr/lib32
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa

Whcih I tried (and didn't work); I assume this would be particular to Ubuntu and wouldn't apply to my Arch config anyway.

Any pointers on other avenues to try?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,665

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

Which "various solutions on the wiki", this is where you have to be specific, no one cares about ubuntu reddit threads, but knowing which solutions from the wiki you tried will prevent duplicate efforts. Have you already tried installing steam-native-runtime and launching Steam with the native runtime option? Terminal output of a failed start? Graphics card and drivers?

Last edited by V1del (2016-12-23 10:46:18)

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

Which "various solutions on the wiki", this is where you have to be specific, no one cares about ubuntu reddit threads, but knowing which solutions from the wiki you tried will prevent duplicate efforts. Have you already tried installing steam-native-runtime and launching Steam with the native runtime option? Terminal output of a failed start? Graphics card and drivers?

I tried:

(1) Using a dynamic linker, i.e.:  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  - this has usually worked for me in the past for Steam problems.

(2) Using the native steam runtime, i.e.: steam-native

(3) Moving the steam installation files, as mentioned in the original message, as per: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=157825

(4) Selectively deleting files and running Steam, as per: https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comm … steamuiso/

Everything ends up with the same error: "failed to load steamui.so"

The reason I mentioned (and looked at) the Reddit thread on Ubuntu is because it actually mentions the specific issue I'm having. Unfortunately, that issue is not documented anywhere on the Arch Wiki that I can see.

I'm having these issues on both my ThinkPad x220 laptop (with integrated Intel graphics) and my desktop which runs an Nvidia GTX 750Ti using the proprietary nvidia package (nvidia-grsec).

edit: I'm running Steam from the terminal, but I'm not getting any useful information  in the terminal on the error. The error, as mentioned, pops up in a Steam dialogue box.  The end of the terminal output is just:

[2016-12-23 09:36:07] Startup - updater built Dec 20 2016 05:49:54
[2016-12-23 09:36:07] Verifying installation...
[2016-12-23 09:36:07] Verification complete
[2016-12-23 09:36:11] Shutdown

Last edited by emacsomancer (2016-12-23 16:43:47)

c00ter

Member

From: Alaskan in Washington State

Registered: 2014-08-28

Posts: 393

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

Steam network--the entire thing--has been reported 'down' today per Slashdot and the Steam status page: https://steamstat.us/

---

UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things. -- Doug Gwyn

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

Steam network--the entire thing--has been reported 'down' today per Slashdot and the Steam status page: https://steamstat.us/

\
OK, I've been having these problems for a couple of days though.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,665

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

I'm having these issues on both my ThinkPad x220 laptop (with integrated Intel graphics) and my desktop which runs an Nvidia GTX 750Ti using the proprietary nvidia package (nvidia-grsec).

Are you using grsec on both systems? Have you tried with the stock kernel? grsec does a few things that might prevent lib32-gls vom properly being loaded or other "non-standard" library locations like your home dir, I don't use it so I don't know the specifics, but I know of at least one other case where that was the issue with PlayOnLinux.

Also while you might not find anything interesting in the terminal output, another pair of eyes seldom hurts, so you should always post full outputs of commands instead of excerpts. (Unless that already is the full output which wouldd indeed be a bit weird.)

Edit: reading through your other threads you've been experimenting with firejail, is anything of this sort active and might be applying to strict rules to the steam binary?

Last edited by V1del (2016-12-24 00:33:47)

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

I'm having these issues on both my ThinkPad x220 laptop (with integrated Intel graphics) and my desktop which runs an Nvidia GTX 750Ti using the proprietary nvidia package (nvidia-grsec).

Are you using grsec on both systems? Have you tried with the stock kernel? grsec does a few things that might prevent lib32-gls vom properly being loaded or other "non-standard" library locations like your home dir, I don't use it so I don't know the specifics, but I know of at least one other case where that was the issue with PlayOnLinux.

Also while you might not find anything interesting in the terminal output, another pair of eyes seldom hurts, so you should always post full outputs of commands instead of excerpts. (Unless that already is the full output which wouldd indeed be a bit weird.)

Edit: reading through your other threads you've been experimenting with firejail, is anything of this sort active and might be applying to strict rules to the steam binary?

Yes, I am using grsec on both systems. I'll try running w/ the stock kernel. (For firejail, I imagine it might muck with steam, but I've been (at least for testing purposes) running steam w/o firejail.)

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

OK, confirmed that it is indeen linux-grsecurity that's causing this issue.

Given that that is the case, what would be my best approach to solving this issue?

The only other applications I had issues with while running linux-grsecurity were google-chrome-stable and google-musicmanager, and I fixed that by adding exceptions to /etc/paxd.conf, specifically:

em   /opt/google/chrome/chrome
pems /opt/google/chrome/nacl_helper
em   /opt/google/musicmanager/MusicManager

/etc/paxd.conf already has an entry for Steam:

em /usr/lib32/ld-linux.so.2

But obviously there are still issues.  Are there other things I need to add to /etc/paxd.conf ?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,665

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

I'd say the steam binaries and libraries in your ~/.local/share/Steam folder would need to be added.  However whenever a thread like this comes up,  I wonder why you actually run the grsec patches? They aren't a drop in replacement that can just be used without understanding what the patches actually do, and the fact that you post a thread on the boards without it crossing your mind that grsec might be responsible for this suggest to you me you aren't entirely sure either. You might make all of the technical benefits naught if you make exceptions for all of your general purpose utilities and carry an unnecessary additional maintenance burden for a feature that you circumvent anyway.

Last edited by V1del (2016-12-25 15:07:29)

emacsomancer

Member

Registered: 2014-09-20

Posts: 211

Re: "Failed to load steamui.so"

I'd say the steam binaries and libraries in your ~/.local/share/Steam folder would need to be added.

Thanks for the suggestion on trying adding (not only) the binaries but also the libraries in ~/.local/share/Steam.

However whenever a thread like this comes up,  I wonder why you actually run the grsec patches? They aren't a drop in replacement that can just be used without understanding what the patches actually do,

For the most part, they have been a drop-in replacement. I had to figure out how to get Chrome and Musicmanager to work, but (other than Steam) almost everything else has worked (from a user-perspective) exactly as before.

I'll admit I have a better understanding of the intricasies of firejail than I do of grsec/pax patches, but why should one have to understand the entirety of a bit of software before using it? I don't understand the finer points of how the Linux kernel operates.

and the fact that you post a thread on the boards without it crossing your mind that grsec might be responsible for this suggest to you me you aren't entirely sure either. You might make all of the technical benefits naught if you make exceptions for all of your general purpose utilities and carry an unnecessary additional maintenance burden for a feature that you circumvent anyway.

When Chrome and Musicmanager didn't work, the first thing that crossed my mind was that it was grsec. For Steam..... Steam breaks all of the time, and the way that it breaks in this case did not (to my eye) resemble how Chrome and Musicmanager break. And I did check the PaX config, but saw that it had configuration already setup for Steam (unlike the case of Chrome & Musicmanager), that suggested to me that grsec/pax wasn't the problem. In retrospect, it makes sense that grsec is at the root.