[Suggestion] Store UMU-Proton where Steam wouldn't touch it

[Kyuunex]

When using umu, it downloads UMU-Proton in ~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/.

I had a "Wine Mono Installer" popup when I launched Steam today. I found it odd since I hadn't launched any games. I checked the process list and found that Steam was doing something with UMU-Proton, wasting CPU power. As this project is about providing means to run proton outside Steam, I don't think it makes sense to be putting UMU-Proton where Steam would touch it.

I also don't see a usecase why an end user would run a game with UMU-Proton inside Steam.

So my suggestion is to store UMU-Proton where Steam wouldn't touch it, as in, don't auto download in there. I suggest putting it in ~/.local/share/umu/compatibilitytools.d/

[R1kaB3rN]

As this project is about providing means to run proton outside Steam, I don't think it makes sense to be putting UMU-Proton where Steam would touch it.

I'm actually with you there, but there are some of us who want Protons installed it in that directory still. See #362 (comment). If you disagree then you're free to download UMU-Proton using another tool then set PROTONPATH accordingly or set UMU-Latest to PROTONPATH as documented in umu(1), which will install it in $XDG_DATA_HOME/umu/compatibilitytools.

So my suggestion is to store UMU-Proton where Steam wouldn't touch it, as in, don't auto download in there. I suggest putting it in ~/.local/share/umu/compatibilitytools.d/

To be clear, are you suggesting this to be the default behavior for umu-launcher? If not and if you're only concerned about not having UMU-Proton builds in Steam's directory, then look no further. UMU-Latest or GE-Latest will give you that. Just note, that umu-launcher will perform delta updates for the builds there.

[Kyuunex]

"setting UMU-Latest to PROTONPATH" doesn't seem like a right solution to me.

What if there was a config file where I could put compatfolder = $HOME/.local/share/umu/compatibilitytools.d/ or something like that? to be clear, I want to specify a custom folder where all the proton packages are as subfolders, (where umu will auto download and update), not a path to a proton package itself.

[R1kaB3rN]

to be clear, I want to specify a custom folder where all the proton packages are as subfolders, (where umu will auto download and update),

If that’s the feature you want, then I suggest you look elsewhere. Because passing an arbitrary file path to read from is one thing, but configuring umu-launcher to write to it is another. The feature you’re suggesting would imply letting umu-launcher potentially writing its files outside its owned directories and Steam’s compatibilitytools.d which is problematic. While we make a special exception to Steam’s directory, putting aside some of the conventional XDG user directories, user applications should write to only the local files in its boundaries. In practice, these are the files the app owns and has already created in the user’s home directory.

To add on, umu-launcher isn’t primarily a Proton manager. So even if we support that feature, Proton managing isn’t something that is really unique or an area worth configuring too much on as there are already existing tools for that. See #312 (comment). The only unique thing we do uniquely in that front are delta updates, which no client really does yet. Other than that umu-launcher does the minimum only as a means to get things working.

As already stated, after having downloaded the file somewhere, all that would be required is to set PROTONPATH. Other than that, we have our defaults.

[R1kaB3rN]

Closing this issue, but will consider reopening if you think it’d be better to change the default UMU-Proton installation path.

I had a "Wine Mono Installer" popup when I launched Steam today. I found it odd since I hadn't launched any games. I checked the process list and found that Steam was doing something with UMU-Proton, wasting CPU power.

This normal for Steam, which I think is really annoying. For more background on that, see #394.

[Kyuunex]

You're right, my suggestion went in a bad direction.

I made this issue because I thought I observed Steam misbehaving with umu putting UMU-Proton in it's compatibilitytools.d folder. Should Steam actually start misbehaving, them maybe changing the default installation path should at least be looked into. Other than that, I don't think it matters.

Thank you.

[Kyuunex]

Hi, this still keeps popping up every time I run steam.

When I check the running process, files in ~/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/UMU-Proton-9.0-4e are ran.
I want to HIGHLY recommend again changing the default directory, as this clearly should not be happening.
UMU should definitely not be placing files in Steam's directories.

I will not be making a suggestion in regards to the exact implementation of the solution. I am just making sure you know this is still a problem.

[Kyuyrii]

I have a pull request about allowing users to choose the folder where UMU should create the umu and Steam folders.

Without needing to change XDG_DATA_HOME.

I imagine that would be enough to avoid the problem of mixing folders created by UMU with folders created by Steam.

#584