Proton

Introduction
------------

**Proton** is a tool for use with the Steam client which allows games which are
exclusive to Windows to run on the Linux operating system. It uses Wine to
facilitate this.

**Most users should use Proton provided by the Steam Client itself.** See
[this Steam Community post][steam-play-introduction] for more details.

The source code is provided to enable advanced users the ability to alter
Proton. For example, some users may wish to use a different version of Wine
with a particular title.

**The changelog** is available on [our wiki][changelog].

[steam-play-introduction]: https://steamcommunity.com/games/221410/announcements/detail/1696055855739350561
[changelog]: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Changelog


Obtaining Proton sources
------------------------

Acquire Proton's source by cloning <https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton>
and checking out the branch you desire.

You can clone the latest Proton to your system with this command:

```bash
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton.git proton
```

Be sure to update submodules when switching between branches:

```bash
git checkout experimental_6.3
git submodule update --init --recursive
```

If you want to change any subcomponent, now is the time to do so. For
example, if you wish to make changes to Wine, you would apply them to the
`wine/` directory.


Building Proton
---------------

Most of Proton builds inside the Proton SDK container with very few
dependencies on the host side.

## Preparing the build environment

You need either a Docker or a Podman setup which Proton's build system uses
internally. You should never need to use either container engine manually unless
working on those parts of build system directly.

We highly recommend [the rootless Podman setup][rootless-podman]. Please refer
to your distribution's documentation for setup instructions (e.g. Arch
[Podman][arch-podman] / [Docker][arch-docker], Debian [Podman][debian-podman] /
[Docker][debian-docker]).

[rootless-podman]: https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/docs/tutorials/rootless_tutorial.md
[arch-podman]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Podman
[arch-docker]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Docker
[debian-podman]: https://wiki.debian.org/Podman
[debian-docker]: https://wiki.debian.org/Docker


## The Easy Way

We provide a top-level Makefile which will execute most of the build commands
for you.

After checking out the repository and updating its submodules, assuming that
you have a working Docker or Podman setup, you can build and install Proton
with a simple:

```bash
make install
```

If your build system is missing dependencies, it will fail quickly with a clear
error message.

After the build finishes, you may need to restart the Steam client to see the
new Proton tool. The tool's name in the Steam client will be based on the
currently checked out branch of Proton. You can override this name using the
`build_name` variable.

See `mak