Describe the bug
I am trying to install and run Steam on an ARM Shimboot device running Debian 12. Steam installs through Pi-Apps, but it will not launch and repeatedly throws runtime errors.
During troubleshooting I encountered several issues including:
steamwebhelper, a critical Steam component, is not responding
Exec format error
Too many levels of symbolic links
Missing library errors such as libc.so.6
Steam runtime tools failing to execute
Pi-Apps launcher scripts not existing after installation
Symlink issues with /usr/local/bin/steam
Attempts to run Steam through Box86 and Box64 did not resolve the issue.
To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Install Steam through Pi-Apps on a Shimboot ARM device.
Attempt to run Steam normally or through terminal.
Steam fails to launch and displays runtime errors.
Steps attempted during troubleshooting:
Attempted launching Steam via Pi-Apps run script:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam/run.sh
Error:
[BOX64] Error: File is not found.
Attempted launching Steam directly through runtime:
STEAM_RUNTIME=0 STEAM_DISABLE_WEBHELPER=1 box86 ~/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh
Error:
Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries:
libc.so.6
Installed ARM libc package:
sudo apt install libc6:armhf
Library error still persisted.
Attempted launching Steam directly:
STEAM_RUNTIME=0 STEAM_DISABLE_WEBHELPER=1 box86 ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam
Error:
Exec format error
Steam runtime errors appeared:
steam-runtime-identify-library-abi: cannot execute binary file
steam-runtime-check-requirements failed
Failed to load steamui.so
Attempted to enable Box86 binfmt support:
sudo systemctl restart systemd-binfmt
Checked binfmt:
cat /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/box86
Result:
No such file or directory
Mounted binfmt:
sudo mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
Attempted registering Box86:
sudo update-binfmts --install box86 /usr/bin/box86
Error:
update-binfmts: command not found
Installed binfmt support and retried.
Next issue encountered:
Too many levels of symbolic links
Symlink /usr/local/bin/steam was removed during troubleshooting:
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/steam
After removal, Steam launcher no longer existed.
Attempted reinstall through Pi-Apps.
Steam directory still existed:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam
However only installer files were present:
install-64
uninstall
Running installer directly failed:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam/install-64
Error:
install_packages: command not found
/manage: No such file or directory
Attempted reinstall through Pi-Apps GUI.
Steam runtime continued to produce:
Exec format error
steamwebhelper not responding
Too many levels of symbolic links
Expected behavior
Steam should install and launch successfully through Pi-Apps using Box86/Box64 compatibility on ARM systems without runtime errors, missing libraries, or symbolic link loops.
Screenshots / Photos
Not applicable. All errors occurred in terminal output.
Target Chrome OS Device
Board Name: dedede
Device Name: drawcia
Shimboot version: v1.0.1
Build Device
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Example neofetch --stdout output:
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) aarch64
Host: Shimboot Corsola
Kernel: Linux 6.x.x
Shell: bash
Architecture: aarch64
Additional context
I attempted to resolve the issue by:
reinstalling Steam through Pi-Apps
running Steam manually through Box86 and Box64
disabling Steam webhelper
installing ARM libc packages
enabling binfmt for Box86
manually launching Steam runtime binaries
repairing Pi-Apps installation
recreating the Steam launcher
troubleshooting symlink errors
If any of these problems were caused by something I did during troubleshooting, I am completely fine with re-downloading or reinstalling the system, Steam, or Pi-Apps if that is the recommended fix.
I am mainly looking for clear step-by-step instructions to get Steam running correctly on Shimboot ARM devices.
Describe the bug
I am trying to install and run Steam on an ARM Shimboot device running Debian 12. Steam installs through Pi-Apps, but it will not launch and repeatedly throws runtime errors.
During troubleshooting I encountered several issues including:
steamwebhelper, a critical Steam component, is not responding
Exec format error
Too many levels of symbolic links
Missing library errors such as libc.so.6
Steam runtime tools failing to execute
Pi-Apps launcher scripts not existing after installation
Symlink issues with /usr/local/bin/steam
Attempts to run Steam through Box86 and Box64 did not resolve the issue.
To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Install Steam through Pi-Apps on a Shimboot ARM device.
Attempt to run Steam normally or through terminal.
Steam fails to launch and displays runtime errors.
Steps attempted during troubleshooting:
Attempted launching Steam via Pi-Apps run script:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam/run.sh
Error:
[BOX64] Error: File is not found.
Attempted launching Steam directly through runtime:
STEAM_RUNTIME=0 STEAM_DISABLE_WEBHELPER=1 box86 ~/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh
Error:
Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries:
libc.so.6
Installed ARM libc package:
sudo apt install libc6:armhf
Library error still persisted.
Attempted launching Steam directly:
STEAM_RUNTIME=0 STEAM_DISABLE_WEBHELPER=1 box86 ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam
Error:
Exec format error
Steam runtime errors appeared:
steam-runtime-identify-library-abi: cannot execute binary file
steam-runtime-check-requirements failed
Failed to load steamui.so
Attempted to enable Box86 binfmt support:
sudo systemctl restart systemd-binfmt
Checked binfmt:
cat /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/box86
Result:
No such file or directory
Mounted binfmt:
sudo mount binfmt_misc -t binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
Attempted registering Box86:
sudo update-binfmts --install box86 /usr/bin/box86
Error:
update-binfmts: command not found
Installed binfmt support and retried.
Next issue encountered:
Too many levels of symbolic links
Symlink /usr/local/bin/steam was removed during troubleshooting:
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/steam
After removal, Steam launcher no longer existed.
Attempted reinstall through Pi-Apps.
Steam directory still existed:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam
However only installer files were present:
install-64
uninstall
Running installer directly failed:
~/pi-apps/apps/Steam/install-64
Error:
install_packages: command not found
/manage: No such file or directory
Attempted reinstall through Pi-Apps GUI.
Steam runtime continued to produce:
Exec format error
steamwebhelper not responding
Too many levels of symbolic links
Expected behavior
Steam should install and launch successfully through Pi-Apps using Box86/Box64 compatibility on ARM systems without runtime errors, missing libraries, or symbolic link loops.
Screenshots / Photos
Not applicable. All errors occurred in terminal output.
Target Chrome OS Device
Board Name: dedede
Device Name: drawcia
Shimboot version: v1.0.1
Build Device
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Example neofetch --stdout output:
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) aarch64
Host: Shimboot Corsola
Kernel: Linux 6.x.x
Shell: bash
Architecture: aarch64
Additional context
I attempted to resolve the issue by:
reinstalling Steam through Pi-Apps
running Steam manually through Box86 and Box64
disabling Steam webhelper
installing ARM libc packages
enabling binfmt for Box86
manually launching Steam runtime binaries
repairing Pi-Apps installation
recreating the Steam launcher
troubleshooting symlink errors
If any of these problems were caused by something I did during troubleshooting, I am completely fine with re-downloading or reinstalling the system, Steam, or Pi-Apps if that is the recommended fix.
I am mainly looking for clear step-by-step instructions to get Steam running correctly on Shimboot ARM devices.