myliverhatesme Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 I've noticed that whenever there's an upgrade, it's the Linux users who are left in the old lobby because they are unable to install the new version immediately. This is due to the way package management is done on Linux. So for those of you on Linux who can't run the latest 0ad because it hasn't been packaged yet or won't be packaged for your OS, I have a solution that I hope works for you. It involves using the Nix package manager which in theory runs on every version of Linux and you only need to run 2 commands: one to install the package manager and one to download/compile/run 0ad. First install the Nix package manager by running: sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon Further directions here: https://nixos.org/download/ After the package manager is installed you should be able to run: nix run github:nixos/nixpkgs/master#zeroad This will download and compile the latest nix packaged version of 0ad (27 as of yesterday) if it hasn't done so already, then run 0ad. Since it has to download/compile it takes some time the first time you run it; about 12 minutes the first time on my mediocre PC. But after that it opens normally. To see what version of the code it's pulling down and compiling (as well as the build steps) you can look at this file: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/a19f7dcff880e1e6e82ea1b0f9155572b72385b2/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix#L50 I'm curious if this works for you. Please let me know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poised Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 i installed nix using these instructions successfully but the install command did not work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy5995 Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 AppImages are available from https://github.com/0ad-matters/0ad-appimage/releases 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myliverhatesme Posted February 7 Author Report Share Posted February 7 @poised What error did you get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudica Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 Great tip! I was just thinking why just play 0 A.D. when I can install one more package manager onto my system. Trust us, it's very safe. All you need to do is feed this freshly downloaded script directly to a root shell. They sell you this illusion of consistently packaged, bleeding edge software, but then you end up using Snap, Flatpak, Wine, AUR, Nix. And in the end, you'll have to go build it yourself if you don't want to wait a week for someone to re-package it for your system of choice. Rants aside, it did build after adding a few flags to the command, but I couldn't get it to run: ERROR: SetVideoMode failed in SDL_CreateWindow: 1024x768:24 0 ("No GL driver has been loaded") In the time needed to resolve all these issues, I could just go reinstall Windows and make a few tweaks to make them less annoying. I'll just install what I want and it will even run faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poised Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 2 hours ago, myliverhatesme said: @poised What error did you get? nix run github:nixos/nixpkgs/master#zeroad zsh: no matches found: github:nixos/nixpkgs/master#zeroad didn't wildfire use to keep their own repository link for the latest build? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myliverhatesme Posted February 9 Author Report Share Posted February 9 That's weird. Why is zsh giving an error? That error isn't from the nix command. Can you try it in bash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfHassen Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 WFG now has control of the flatpak repo and while we're still working on it behind the scenes we do have A27 on flathub! The Nix package is pretty cool, by the way, I just wanted to put this here in case someone doesn't want to install Nix. Nix is cool, but it is a lot of work for someone to just play 0 A.D. keep it up with the nix package though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seleucids Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 A different strategy: download the released .zip file then build from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfHassen Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 11 hours ago, Seleucids said: A different strategy: download the released .zip file then build from there. Well to be fair that's kind of hard to do-- I certainly haven't been able to figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myliverhatesme Posted February 11 Author Report Share Posted February 11 22 hours ago, Seleucids said: A different strategy: download the released .zip file then build from there. Can't tell if you're just trying be a jerk, but obviously it's not that simple. You download the source, then what? You have to download and set up a bunch of dependencies. That's entire point of the nix package. It does for you and in isolation so it doesn't interfere with your existing system packages. I posted a link to the source which apparently you didn't look at. It downloads the source and compiles it for you. You can think of it like a bash script that handles the dependencies and compilation for you. On 03/02/2025 at 11:06 AM, myliverhatesme said: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/a19f7dcff880e1e6e82ea1b0f9155572b72385b2/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix#L50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guerringuerrin Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 (edited) I know that at some point it is adding more work to the devs but perhaps an official WildFires' AppImage would be the best approach. I don't doubt the good intentions of the github user "0ad-matters" but it is understandable that someone might doubt whether he is not incorporating some vulnerability in our system by installing this package. In any case, since this is a free software development native to GNU/Linux environments, perhaps the best thing would be to officially announce the release when it is available in the repositories of, at least, the most important Linux distributions. Afterall, having a new release that is first available with two clicks on Windows and MacOs before it is on Linux is a bit ironic. Yes, people can learn to compile and become better computer users. But this is a video game and the best strategy for spreading it is to not put obstacles in people's way. Just an opinion. Edited February 11 by guerringuerrin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan` Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 4 minutes ago, guerringuerrin said: I know that at some point it is adding more work to the devs but perhaps an official WildFires' AppImage would be the best approach. I don't doubt the good intentions of the github user "0ad-matters" but it is understandable that someone might doubt whether he is not incorporating some vulnerability in our system by installing this package. An official appimage is planned, but in the meantime I personnally trust @andy5995 We also made the flatpak official just a few days ago. Quote In any case, since this is a free software development native to GNU/Linux environments, perhaps the best thing would be to officially announce the release when it is available in the repositories of, at least, the most important Linux distributions. Afterall, having a new release that is first available with two clicks on Windows and MacOs before it is on Linux is a bit ironic. Yes, people can learn to compile and become better computer users. But this is a video game and the best strategy for spreading it is to not put obstacles in people's way. Just an opinion. It's as native on Windows than it is on macOS, BSD, Haiku and Linux. It's just that the distribution of the most performant version is a bit slower on Linux it's out of our control. We could wait for the maintainers to release but then just like when the trailer leaked, we'd get confusion in the lobby if they take 3 months like A26. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guerringuerrin Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 17 minutes ago, Stan` said: An official appimage is planned, but in the meantime I personnally trust @andy5995 We also made the flatpak official just a few days ago. Ok, that's good to know! Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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