Did you get it running already? If so, happy to have helped :) It’s a bit tricky to move your downloaded games into the jail so that you don’t have to re-download, I think maybe it’s just easier to download them again as you start playing them. I started with a jail right from scratch so I only ever tried moving my games files between different jails, that was easier (but can still be done wrong).

On debian testing (trixie):

$ cat bin/steam-jailed.sh

#!/bin/sh
firejail --private=/home/user/steamjail --profile=/etc/firejail/steam.profile ~/steam $1

Sometimes an update breaks something, and I have to experiment with the profile settings, for which it helps to launch a bash with the same jail and start steam on the command line inside the jail to see output messages.

#!/bin/sh
firejail --private=/home/user/steamjail --blacklist=${HOME}/.inputrc --profile=/etc/firejail/steam.profile bash

What happens most of the time is that a steam update depends on a newer system library that I didn’t yet install and I then have to do a system update - steam is shit at managing OS dependencies (i.e.: it doesn’t)

yes, and I know it’s less than perfect, but it’s better than nothing :)

and THAT, children, is why I run steam in a jail. Fuck the idea of giving access to my home folder or anything else under my user…

Honestly I didn’t mean to attack you, I tried to make some suggestions and argue some of your points :) My experience as a tech savvy user is that I regularly have to fight corporate IT for permissions /services that permit me to work at full potential, because they keep offering solutions for dumb users and for windows and microsoft based products only. I managed to break free mostly without being self-employed but it was a long uphill battle with stupid people telling me how IT works…

1. LDAP and / or Kerberos?
2. That’s what Enterprise Distros are for (Redhat, SLES, Ubuntu)
3. “Linux-ready sysadmins” is a hen-and-egg problem. If people keep maintaining a rotting Windows ecosystem, thus do not establish a market for linux sysadmins, less people will study in that direction.

Nevertheless, from my personal experience, corporate IT in non-software enterprises is full of clueless sys"admins" who just go by flowcharts and if that doesn’t help escalate to Microsoft support, and if they can’t help they close tickets as “use as-is”.

I noticed they seem to be intentionally locking out smaller domains and I hope that backfires. Not holding my breath though.

Ah, I see. A youngling who never heard of the usenet.

Big red button might help, but when I’m “in the zone” with coding, normally I forget everything around me :) One moment I’ll be browsing the web on my leisure time, and then I have an idea for one of my work projects, switch to that and “wake up” 8 hours later with lots of stuff done and no idea when I “clocked in” - that’s usually when I do “ls -lR” on my project folders and check file timestamps :D

The problem is working on different computers & sometimes switching back and forth between private time and work time. That’d require actual button presses or something to “clock” in/out

As someone who works atrocius times of their own volition & has to create a clean timesheet every end of the month, this is a great idea -buyt there are too many special rules to consider imo - also I never properly track time (keep forgetting) but reconstruct work times from emails, chats & calendar entries :)

thanks, now I’ll be policing my own speech for this :D

One good alternative: codeberg.org

For the purpose of protecting important data, the distinction really doesn’t matter. And the good old xkcd comic has a point - for many people, all relevant data is in the user’s accessible storage area anyways. Hence me running almost all internet applications and steam in a jail.

Okay, fair point, let me rephrase: if someone knows what kernel (admin) level execution means, and installs a game that requires this on a computer where they keep important data, they are a dumbass mtherfcker :) Generally speaking though: most people shouldn’t be allowed to use technology - humans are unbelievably stupid for the most part.

we just need one pvp game with kernel level anti cheat

Leaving aside that security patches should be done, if you install that kind of game on a system where you have any data worth protecting, you’re a dumb ass mtherfcker. Sorry, but seriously, that’s just how it is.

While security has nothing to do with my disgust for docker and people advocating its use, docker adds a layer of complexity, which means it is not necessarily more secure.

What is extremely bad about docker:

1. it enables extremely shitty configuration control on the side of a developer. There are way too many developers who have a chaotic approach to configurations, and instead of being forced to write a proper installation and configuration guide from scratch, and thereby making themselves(!) aware of active configuration changes they made to make their system work, they just roll out the docker container they develop in, without remembering most of the configurations they made. Which, naturally, means that they are unable to assist in troubleshooting problems or reproduce issues that users might have.

In general, if you can’t write a good user manual, or at least clearly identify needed dependencies and configurations, you should not be developing software for other people.

2. it combines the disadvantages of a VM (shitty performance) and running directly on the host OS (sandboxing is not nearly as good as on a VM)

3. it creates insane bloat, by completely bypassing the concept of shared libraries and making people download copies of software they already have on their system

4. it adds a lot of security risks because the user would have to not only review the source code they are compiling and installing, but also would have to scan all the dependencies and what-not, and would basically have to trust the developer and/or anyone distributing an image that they did not add any malware.

I have no mistress, and I know no misters.

you lost me at “docker”. The only people using docker are morons and those that trust software by morons.

yeah, that describes my thought process well - I am thinking in words while typing (or while reading, speaking, listening, obviously), but in abstract concepts when not interacting with language, but with objects around me.