--- name: "game-data-packager" section: "6" platform: "linux" package: "game-data-packager" version: "85.1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/game-data-packager" --- # game-data-packager(6) build a package (.deb\|.rpm\|...) of game data ## NAME game-data-packager - build a package (.deb\|.rpm\|...) of game data ## SYNOPSIS **game-data-packager** \[*OPTIONS*\] *GAME* \[*OPTIONS*\] \[*PER-GAME OPTIONS*\] ## DESCRIPTION Many open-source games require game data which is licensed incompatibly with the Debian Free Software Guidelines and other Linux distributions' licensing guidelines, or cannot be legally redistributed at all. **game-data-packager** is a tool designed to help you locally assemble packages for Debian or other packaging systems, containing such game data from CD-ROMs, the Internet or elsewhere. ## OPTIONS - **--package** *PACKAGE*, **-p** *PACKAGE* For games that produce more than one package, only produce the specified package. This option can be repeated. For example, **game-data-packager quake2 -i -pquake2-groundzero -pquake2-reckoning** would update the two Quake II expansions (Ground Zero and The Reckoning), building new native-code game modules if necessary, without updating the packages for the base game or the music. - **--target-format** **arch**\|**deb**\|**rpm** Produce packages for the given packaging system. All packaging systems except for **deb** (which represents dpkg) are considered experimental. The default is to try to auto-detect what is appropriate for the system where **game-data-packager** is run. - **--target-distro** **fedora**\|**suse**\|**...** For packaging systems where different Linux distributions need different content (currently this means **rpm**), produce packages suitable for the selected distribution. The default is to try to auto-detect what is appropriate for the system where **game-data-packager** is run. - **-i**\|**--install** Attempt to install the generated package using the *--install-method* and the *--gain-root-command*. - **--install-method** **apt**\|**dpkg**\|**gdebi**\|**gdebi-gtk**\|**gdebi-kde**\|**dnf**\|**zypper**\|**urpmi**\|**rpm** Install the generated package using the requested command. Only methods that can install the selected **--target-format** are valid. - **--gain-root-command** **pkexec**\|**sudo**\|**su**\|**super**\|**really**\|***COMMAND*** Use the requested command prefix to run commands as root when needed. **su** uses the **su -c** syntax to run a one-line shell command; the rest (including user-specified commands) are assumed to work as an "adverb" command prefix, similar to **sudo dpkg -i ...** or **pkexec rpm -U ...**. - **-d** *OUT-DIRECTORY* \| **--destination** *OUT-DIRECTORY* Write the generated package to the specified directory, instead of or in addition to installing it. - **-n**\|**--no-install** Do not attempt to install the generated package. This option must be used in conjunction with **-d**. - **--binary-executables** Allow the creation of packages containing native executable code that was not built from publically-available source code. By default, such executables are not packaged to avoid creating a security risk. For example, this allows the proprietary Linux binaries for Quake 4 and Unreal to be packaged. - **-z**\|**--compress** Compress the generated package. This is the default if -i is not used. - **--no-compress** Do not compress the generated package. This is the default if -i is used (since it is not usually useful to compress the package if it will just be installed and then discarded). - **--download** Automatically downloading any missing files from the Internet if possible. - **--no-download** Do not download missing files from the Internet. If the missing files are not very important (for example optional documentation), **game-data-packager** will produce a package that lacks those files; if the missing files are required, **game-data-packager** will not produce a package at all. - **--save-downloads** *DIRECTORY* If files are downloaded, save them to *DIRECTORY*. - **--verbose** Be more verbose, and in particular show output from any external tools that are invoked during operation. - **--no-verbose** Do not show verbose output. This is the default. - **--debug** Show output that is interesting to **game-data-packager** developers. - *GAME* The game being packaged. Running **game-data-packager** without arguments will display a list of valid games. ## PER-GAME OPTIONS Some games have additional options. Running **game-data-packager** *GAME* **--help** will display a list of valid options for that game. ## NON-GAME MODES Some non-game-specific modes can be selected by specifying a special keyword instead of the name of a game. **game-data-packager** \[*COMMON OPTIONS*\] **steam** \[*COMMON OPTIONS*\] \[**--new**\|**--all**\]\ will package all your Steam games at once. Most games can only be downloaded with the Windows version of Steam, optionally running through Wine, or by using the **steamcmd** tool. This mode takes the same options as **game-data-packager**, and adds its own options: - **--new** Only package new games - **--all** Package all games available **game-data-packager** \[*COMMON OPTIONS*\] **gog** \[*COMMON OPTIONS*\]\ will match all the GOG.com games you own against the games supported by this tool.\ Each games must then be packaged individually. ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES - **LANGUAGE, LANG** These environment variables are used when a game is available in various languages to choose the correct version.\ Those are normally set by your desktop environment. ## PATHS game-data-packager will automatically locate applicable files in these directories: - **~/.steam/SteamApps/common/\/** - **~/.wine/drive\_c/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/common/\/** and also the ~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Steam/drive\_c/... variant - **X:/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/common/\/** where X:\\ is any mounted vfat or NTFS partition ## FILES - **/etc/game-data-packager.conf** game-data-packager configuration file - **~/.scummvmrc** provides location information for game registered in ScummVM GUI - **~/.steam/config/loginusers.vdf** is used to detect user's SteamID, which is then used to download a list of owned games - **~/.cache/lgogdownloader/gamedetails.json** holds a cached list of owned GOG.com games ## SEE ALSO [*pkexec*(1)](/pkexec/1.md), [*sudo*(8)](/sudo/8.md), [*su*(1)](/su/1.md), [*lgogdownloader*(1)](/lgogdownloader/1.md)\ Project homepage:\ ⟨URL: https://wiki.debian.org/Games/GameDataPackager/ ⟩ ## AUTHOR Copyright © 2010-2013 Jonathan Dowland *\*\ Thanks to Branden Robinson for his ‘Write the Fine Manual’ presentation, once found at\ ⟨URL: http://people.debian.org/~branden/talks/wtfm/ ⟩