Steam (non-beta) Flatpak crash on startup: Error "steamwebhelper is not responding" - NixOS 24.05.

[shymega]

Similar issue to #1318, except on NixOS 24.05, with the latest Flatpak.

I'm using this on an AMD CPU, with an AMD 780M iGPU.

The fix described here works for me, but it does mean I can't use the latest version of Steam.

I do not have AppArmor or SELinux on NixOS, and my Flatpak has no special overrides, other than allowing access to external storage for games.

I'm not sure where to find the logs - if someone can let me know where to find the logs, I can upload them.

Thanks.

[smcv]

Similar issue to #1318

I'm pretty sure you mean a similar symptom, but almost certainly for a different reason.

[forcibly downgrading Steam] works for me

This is not something that Valve is ever going to support.

I'm not sure where to find the logs

~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/logs

[shymega]

Similar issue to #1318

I'm pretty sure you mean a similar symptom, but almost certainly for a different reason.

Yes, you're quite right. My bad for neglecting that.

[forcibly downgrading Steam] works for me

This is not something that Valve is ever going to support.

Agreed, which is why I would rather not use that [solution] as a fix.

I'm not sure where to find the logs

~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/logs

Any log in particular? I see quite a few.

[smcv]

console-linux.txt, webhelper-linux.txt and webhelper.txt are likely to be the most relevant for a steamwebhelper crash. If you revert your workaround(s), move the current logs out of the way, then attempt to start Steam, you'll get "clean" logs that only contain the most recent launch attempt.

[shymega]

Got logs from the default Steam version.

I couldn't get webhelper.txt - it doesn't exist - but the rest I have.

Attached.
console-linux.txt
webhelper-linux.txt

[smcv]

Try with STEAM_LINUX_RUNTIME_VERBOSE=1 in the environment?

If you have STEAM_LINUX_RUNTIME_LOG=1 set, there will be another log file in ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-sniper/var/. If not, then the verbose log from starting the container runtime should end up in webhelper-linux.txt.

At the moment this looks like the container runtime startup is just freezing somewhere?

[smcv]

I couldn't get webhelper.txt - it doesn't exist

That would be consistent with container runtime startup freezing or something, so that the actual steamwebhelper never actually starts.

[shymega]

OK, so when running with those env vars (cmd: flatpak run --env=STEAM_LINUX_RUNTIME_LOG=1 --env=STEAM_LINUX_RUNTIME_VERBOSE=1 com.valvesoftware.Steam), Steam does load.

However, it appears to be intermittent. I have attached the logs requested to this ticket. I'm not sure if it's related to a possible bug with NixOS and AMD - its affecting 1Password GUI and dwl, a wlroots WM for me at the moment.

console-linux.txt
slr-latest.log
webhelper.txt
webhelper-linux.txt

[smcv]

If this is failing intermittently, please continue to use those options for a while (you can use flatpak override --user com.valvesoftware.Steam to get those two environment variables set by default for Steam, if you want) and collect logs from one of the times that it fails.

[shymega]

It's happened consistently now. I've got four logs from Flatpak, and three from Steam running natively on my distro (NixOS).

I am curious if this bug I am experiencing is related: NixOS/nixpkgs#343806

However, that bug is specific to mixing unstable with stable NixOS channels in relation to Mesa versions.

I'm also wondering if it's worth reporting this to upstream Steam. What do you think? I've attached logs to this comment.

Running Steam natively crashes before the login screen, and I have not been able to get both 'webhelper' logs - the only one I can get is 'webhelper-linux.txt'. The crash happens after unpacking the Steam runtime. The slr-latest.log file with native Steam is also non-existent.

Flatpak Steam logs:

console-linux-flatpak.txt
slr-latest-flatpak.log
webhelper-flatpak.txt
webhelper-linux-flatpak.txt

Native Steam logs:

console-linux-native.txt
webhelper-linux-native.txt

[emmetoneillpdx]

Same "steamwebhelper is not responding" issue here.

Was originally running into this issue infrequently and was able to resolve it by killing the webhelper process or restarting my session. But starting today I've been running into it repeatedly and can no longer open Steam, which sucks.

My System:

Bluefin 40 (Fedora Silverblue 40)
Gnome 46 x11
Ryzen 9 5900x
RX 590
64 GB RAM
Steam Flatpak via Flathub (com.valvesoftware.Steam)

Logs:

console_log.txt
console-linux.txt
webhelper-linux.txt
steamui.txt

[lbrunkho]

I started seeing this today as well. Looks like steam rolled out a runtime update. Running Fedora 40.

I see this line of interest in my webhelper-linux.txt...

[2024-10-02 22:20:20] ./steamwebhelper: error while loading shared libraries: ./libcef.so: cannot allocate memory in static TLS block

[lbrunkho]

Ran my steam with -clearbeta to roll back the steam runtime and that seemed to fix it for me. If it is still broken tomorrow on the beta branch, then I'll report the error upstream.

[jpkhawam]

Wanted to mention that I also faced this but only after the October 3rd beta update, I was on the beta branch before just fine. I forgot to check this issue tracker and logged an issue upstream here: ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11312

Should I delete or keep it?

[shymega]

I don't think this is the same issue - I'm not using the Beta branch. As well as that, this issue is scoped to NixOS. I would advise opening a new issue for your issues.

EDIT: I see now there's a common ancestor to these issues. Ignore the above.

[bbhtt]

Steam most likely needs to backport chromiumembedded/cef@be40859 or update to a fixed libcef build.

[RobotRoss]

Also seeing this, Fedora 40 Wayland, Steam Flatpak.

[Izooc]

Getting this issue intermittently on fedora kinoite, sometimes steam loads, sometimes it complains about webhelper. For me I can workaround it by using flatpak kill to stop the process crashing and then use flatpak run with --reset and then steam loads.

[shymega]

It's getting a bit noisy with "Me too!" comments. Can new reports please read through the issue, for the first comment that matches your configuration. For example, in the case of Fedora 40/Wayland, you would then react [to the comment] with 👍🏻 (:+1:), and subscribe to the issue. If there is no comment that matches your setup (i.e., distro, and windowing system: X11 or Wayland), then please comment with that info.

It's also worth stressing this tracker is for the Steam Flatpak - not for the normal/native Steam application.

This sounds like a bug that's affecting quite a few people. Let's keep the issue tidy, and focused on the resolution - otherwise, it just creates noise, and the fix will be delayed, or worse, not happen at all.

[orpheus333]

I'm seeing this on a intel i7 3720QM, HD4000 graphics running Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS. Steam is installed using the 1.0.0.81 Flatpak. The stable version of steam seems to work fine without any steamwebhelper issues. However when updating to the beta client I get the bug and steam crashes on launch with the webhelper issue. Using -clearbeta to rollback to the stable client fixes the issue. So i'm not sure if this is specifically a Flatpak problem.

[C0rn3j]

To highlight the workaround by @Izooc in case you want to get rid of the crashing beta:

Kill any possible Steam leftovers:

flatpak kill com.valvesoftware.Steam

Reset the client files to default (configuration/data is otherwise kept):

# This will still crash, watch the terminal until the client download is complete
# Press the restart button on the crash dialog afterwards
flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam --reset

Afterwards you can run Steam as normal:

flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam

[shymega]

This isn't related purely to beta. It happens on both beta+stable in Flatpak or native Steam.

[shymega]

The issue should be renamed, I'm running into the crash on stable Steam channel, with Flatpak & native (NixOS).

[smcv]

@shymega, are you seeing the message "libcef.so: cannot allocate memory in static TLS block" in the log?

If you are not, then you and everyone else here are probably seeing two different crashes. Unfortunately, "Steamwebhelper is not responding" is not a distinctive error condition - it's a symptom, not a cause - so it's very easy to get people who are experiencing similar crashes for different reasons jumping onto an issue report and derailing it.

For anyone who is seeing the message "libcef.so: cannot allocate memory in static TLS block" in the beta, the relevant Steam issue report is ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11312. Please subscribe there and wait for a Valve developer to act on it. The workaround is to downgrade from beta to stable (which you can't easily do from the GUI because it isn't starting, but flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam -clearbeta or deleting the file ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.steam/root/package/beta might help).

@shymega, if you're seeing a different error message or no error message, then that should be reported to Valve via https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues separately. You can make your report as simple and actionable as possible for Valve developers (therefore maximizing the likelihood that someone can fix it) by reporting it as an issue with the non-Flatpak, non-sandboxed ("native") version of Steam (because that's a simpler scenario than the Flatpak app), and providing logs - at least console-linux.txt and webhelper-linux.txt, but preferably a tar archive of the complete logs directory as requested in the steam-for-linux issue template.

[shymega]

@smcv I am not seeing the libcef.so error. Let us rename this issue, and point people encountering the libcef.so error to a separate issue.

My problem happens on both native and Flatpak Steam, so I think we should keep this issue open and refocus on the original problem reported. Then, I can link this issue to upstream Steam as well.

What do you think?

[smcv]

@smcv I am not seeing the libcef.so error. Let us rename this issue, and point people encountering the libcef.so error to a separate issue.

Yes, I think that would be best. (But I am not a maintainer of this project, so I cannot retitle the issue for you.)

[shymega]

@smcv I've done it now.

[shymega]

I'm still experiencing the crash, so I'm going to report it upstream, and link to this issue. I suspect once fixed, it'll resolve both Flatpak and native.

@bbhtt - could you 'hide' the libcef.so comments as off-topic, given my original post was not related to libcef.so? Thanks.

[shymega]

Attached fresh logs:
steam-logs-flatpak.tar.gz
steam-logs-native.tar.gz

And a screenshot of the webhelper dialog:

Linked issue on upstream: ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11346

[bbhtt]

@bbhtt - could you 'hide' the libcef.so comments as off-topic, given my original post was not related to libcef.so? Thanks.

can you please open a new issue? Everyone else's logs are related to libcef. It is better to keep this bug focused on that particular issue.

[shymega]

On 13.10.2024 18:28, bbhtt wrote: > @bbhtt - could you 'hide' the libcef.so comments as off-topic, given my original post was not related to libcef.so? Thanks. can you please open a new issue? Everyone else's logs are related to libcef. It is better to keep this bug focused on that particular issue.

@bbhtt I don't think that's necessary. I've already linked to it on upstream Steam, and, to an extent, this issue has been sidelined by unrelated bug reports. I'd rather we just hide the unrelated comments, and open a new tracking issue for `libcef.so` if necessary. Best wishes, -- Dom Rodriguez GPG Fingerprint: EB0D 45E6 D0DC 1BA1 A2B5 FC24 72DC F123 1E54 BD43