Please consider submitting udev rules upstream

[NaheemSays]

Please, consider submitting the udev rules to upstream (systemd). Here is an example how to do it: systemd/systemd#20561.

This will help users who use flatpak steam (or appimage if there is a steam appimage).

[smcv]

This is not going to be quick: it needs some design work. I've started the process at systemd/systemd#22681.

[linuxkernel94]

Hi, do you have any updates? Is there an estimated time for when this issue will be resolved?

[Peque]

@smcv Now that systemd/systemd#22681 has been marked as resolved, what would be the state of this? (and/or #22, which is maybe very closely related). 😊

[linuxkernel94]

Hi, any updates on this? This is particularly crucial for immutable distros that don’t come with steam-devices preinstalled, like Fedora Silverblue.

It would be great to have this integrated upstream in systemd.

[smcv]

The short version is, we tried and it was rejected.

[mhalano]

So what's the longer version? What was the reason they gave?

[linuxkernel94]

Could you please share the link to the request in question? I'd like to see the details and context, and together we could consider ways to amplify our response and potentially find a way for them to accept it

[linuxkernel94]

This really needs to be upstreamed urgently. Thousands of users across multiple distributions—especially those using Flatpak-based or immutable systems like Fedora Silverblue or others—are left without proper controller support out of the box. Having to rely on manual workarounds or outdated repos just to get basic gamepad functionality is not acceptable in 2025.

Steam Deck, desktop Linux gaming, and platforms like Flathub have matured significantly. It's time the input device support reflects that reality.

Please prioritize getting this merged upstream so users can have a plug-and-play experience without digging through GitHub issues.

[AsciiWolf]

Any progress? As mentioned in the previous comment, this is necessary for immutable systems and it is generally not good practice to ship udev rules as part of downstream packages anymore.

The old attempt to upstream these rules was rejected because of "no strong desire to land this or something like this for now", but Lennart added that "If the desire arises one day a new PR can be submitted". I believe that the situation has changed since, even though Lennart is still not a fan of allowing full hidraw access for these devices.

Also, logind now seems to have support for opening hidraw devices.

With the recently announced new Steam Controller, it is important to make sure that it works properly at least using standard evdev. It would be really unfortunate if it did not work out-of-box.