Has anyone tried running valve's steam client with the linux binary compatibility? Which non-obvious steps did you have to take to get it working... and which games have you had success with running under FreeBSD?

As no one has answered this yet...

I'm not sure if the linux_base-* version will be up to date enough for the glibc version required by the steam client. linux compatibility is usually well behind current Linux and GNU libs and is usually based on a given fedora release. //edit: I think steam depends on pulseaudio as well, no idea how that will work out...

tl;dr: This may be more of a ball ache than you might imagine. If you really want to run steam and proprietary games, it's best to stick to Windows or maybe Linux.

From the Slackware release, I can say that no, Steam does not rely upon Pulse Audio. It does need openAL but afaik that runs on BSD well. Otherwise, yes, I'm not too sure about how the versions of glibc and related libs in BSD ports will compare to what Steam expects to see. Lately, Steam requires Ubuntu 12.04 or better, which is, like 2 years old or so? so quite possibly the stuff in Ports will be current enough.

It would certainly be interesting to hear about the experiment if you do make the attempt! I'd try it myself for kicks, but I haven't got the time at the moment.

I think FreeBSD still provides Fedora Core 6 support as a base for Linux compatibility. The Gentoo layer might be more up to date, but might not be the most compatible.

I am not quite sure how Linux compatibility works on BSDs, but if the sole problem is a too old glibc this should be easily solvable the same way it is solved on Debian Wheezy (which also has a too old glibc): Just use the Ubuntu ones. Have a look here for that solution: https://github.com/GhostSquad57/Stea...ler-for-Wheezy

It's not just glibc. It's the comprised layer itself operates off a string of packages well over a couple of years in age that are outdated for certain usages, but viable enough to get the basics working.

The base Linux layer runs off Fedora Core 10 now on 10.1(?) Take into account Fedora is at the 20s in release and you'll realize how outdated the Linux layer is. It'll run most things, but not all things.

You probably could rip Fedora 20ish binary packages and install them on FreeBSD, but I don't know how well they'd operate.

I don't know how many packages native to the OS steam actually needs, the only problem I ever heard of is a too old glibc, like caused by the fact that Steam comes with its own runtime libraries based on Ubuntu 12.04.

I would at least give it a try, what harm could be done?

I think the FreeBSD Gentoo packages are newer than FC10. But it's been a while since I last tried to install anything of that nature on my BSD box.