[Bug 1759715] [NEW] Remove steam and add to sync blacklist

[Jeremy Bicha]

Public bug reported:

Summary
-------
The steam package is too complicated to maintain well in Ubuntu. It would actually be better for our users if they would just use either the Flatpak, the Snap (not in the Snap Store yet but soon!), or even the steampowered .deb that Valve supports.

Please remove steam and add it to the sync blacklist so that it won't be
automatically re-added to Ubuntu.

Details
-------
1. If a user happens to install Steam from the prominent link at
http://store.steampowered.com/

and already has distro steam packages installed, it will break as the
steampowered packages ship the same files as the distro packages but
without setting up the proper breaks relationships.

This is a complicated problem to solve as Steam wants to have a single
.deb file and the Debian maintainer prefers to split the package into
separate binary packages and doesn't care about what Steam does on their
website.

2. steam is a 32-bit app only but nearly all Ubuntu 18.04 users will be
64-bit. This doesn't work well with the Ubuntu/GNOME Software app (LP:
#1718453). I had to add an arch:all "installer" package (with AppStream
metadata) that depends on the 32-bit package in order for Steam to be
installable on Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10 (LP: #1564570).

But the workaround has problems. The Ubuntu/GNOME Software app does not
uninstall unused dependencies so uninstalling Steam won't actually
uninstall Steam (LP: #1741047).

3. Apparently, appstream has gotten stricter about app icons so the
steam-installer package I added will need to include its own app icons
instead of relying on the icons shipped in the steam package. This is
fixable, but it's a pain and no one has done it yet (LP: #1754852)

4. Steam is available via Flatpak now on Flathub.
https://beta.flathub.org/apps/details/com.valvesoftware.Steam

5. Steam will be available in the Snap Store based on the hard work of
Ikey Doherty from Solus. (Unfortunately, I don't think snap will be
ready to support this app before 18.04 LTS's release but hopefully it
will happen soon after that.)

6. As a proprietary closed-source app with strict library dependencies,
arguably Snap or Flatpak are a better place for Steam anyway.

** Affects: steam (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Description changed:

  Summary
  -------
  The steam package is too complicated to maintain well in Ubuntu. It would actually be better for our users if they would just use either the Flatpak, the Snap (not in the Snap Store yet but soon!), or even the steampowered .deb that Valve supports.
  
  Please remove steam and add it to the sync blacklist so that it won't be
  automatically re-added to Ubuntu.
  
  Details
  -------
  1. If a user happens to install Steam from the prominent link at
  http://store.steampowered.com/
  
  and already has distro steam packages installed, it will break as the
  steampowered packages ship the same files as the distro packages but
  without setting up the proper breaks relationships.
  
  This is a complicated problem to solve as Steam wants to have a single
  .deb file and the Debian maintainer prefers to split the package into
  separate binary packages and doesn't care about what Steam does on their
  website.
  
  2. steam is a 32-bit app only but nearly all Ubuntu 18.04 users will be
  64-bit. This doesn't work well with the Ubuntu/GNOME Software app (LP:
  #1718453). I had to add an arch:all "installer" package (with AppStream
  metadata) that depends on the 32-bit package in order for Steam to be
- installable on Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10. But the workaround has problems.
- The Ubuntu/GNOME Software app does not uninstall unused dependencies so
- uninstalling Steam won't actually uninstall Steam (LP: #1741047).
+ installable on Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10 (LP: #1564570).
+ 
+ But the workaround has problems. The Ubuntu/GNOME Software app does not
+ uninstall unused dependencies so uninstalling Steam won't actually
+ uninstall Steam (LP: #1741047).
  
  3. Apparently, appstream has gotten stricter about app icons so the
  steam-installer package I added will need to include its own app icons
  instead of relying on the icons shipped in the steam package. This is
  fixable, but it's a pain and no one has done it yet (LP: #1754852)
  
  4. Steam is available via Flatpak now on Flathub.
  https://beta.flathub.org/apps/details/com.valvesoftware.Steam
  
  5. Steam will be available in the Snap Store based on the hard work of
  Ikey Doherty from Solus. (Unfortunately, I don't think snap will be
  ready to support this app before 18.04 LTS's release but hopefully it
  will happen soon after that.)
  
  6. As a proprietary closed-source app with strict library dependencies,
  arguably Snap or Flatpak are a better place for Steam anyway.

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Title:
  Remove steam and add to sync blacklist

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