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Official Unity 2020.2+ Unity Linux Distro Support

Discussion in 'Linux' started by andrews_unity, Sep 15, 2020.

  1. andrews_unity

    andrews_unity

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi all,

    As we continue to improve our Linux offerings, we would like to discuss some upcoming changes around the current distros we support for Unity 2020.2 LTS.

    We understand that the distro landscape is one that is ever changing, and we want to make sure that we are supporting where our customers are and where they need us the most. Our current plan for the 2020 LTS release is to make the following changes to supported distros, considering current distro usage, supported distros and industry needs:
    • Add support for Ubuntu 20.4 LTS
    • Continue support for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and CentOS 7
    • Remove support for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. 16.04 LTS is nearing end-of-life and is only receiving security updates at this point.
    Now a lot of folks might ask why these distros? Why not distro XXX or distro YYY? That's a very valid question and, as we looked at the data around where our customers are within the Linux ecosystem, there were some clear conclusions:
    • Ubuntu has the largest groups of users, both for dev and for players.
    • People care about having a distro that is being supported by its community.
    • Stability and consistency are important to our users and our developers.
    This is why we have focused on ensuring that Unity works with LTS versions of Ubuntu. We want to make sure that our customers have the best possible support when it comes to their Linux experience and want to make sure that we are where our customers are. It was clear to us that Ubuntu 20.04 support was something that you wanted, and we wanted to be right there with you.

    So why CentOS 7?

    CentOS is the industry standard for the Film/VFX industry. Over the past couple of years, Unity has had the privilege of participating in cutting-edge advancements of technology in both film and VFX. We want to ensure that we can provide the best possible support for these customers, whether it be on a render farm or their daily work machines. In order to ensure that we meet these goals, we need to make sure that Unity can run in the standard environment of this industry.

    Will you ever consider supporting other distros?

    It is unlikely that we will be supporting more than two distributions any time soon. We want to provide our customers with the best possible support we can, and in order to do this, we have to limit the number of distros we officially support in order to balance the priorities of our users on other platforms. However, we are passionate about Linux and understand that the distro ecosystem is one that is ever changing as Linux distros continue to change and improve. We will continue to monitor what’s important to our Linux users and evaluate and make as-needed adjustments to our current distribution support in the future.

    We hope that these new support offerings allow you to continue to build great products on supported, battle-tested distros. Of course, we always value feedback and we hope that you will continue with us on this journey: making Unity on Linux the best product it can be.

    Thanks,
    The Unity Desktop Team
     
  2. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    Thanks for the info! :)

    People should know that Unity will work with any Linux distro derived from Ubuntu, in my case Linux Mint. Unity works fine with Linux Mint 20 Ulyana that is based on Ubuntu 20.4 already.
     
    EthanFischer and ivaylo5ev like this.
  3. btristan

    btristan

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    Can we get an updated dependencies list for 2020.2? I'm trying to install 2020.2 on Ubuntu 18.04 and getting this error:

    Code (JavaScript):
    1. Fatal error: required formats (xar, cpio, tar, gzip, xz) are not supported by system libarchive
    But apt-get reports that my libarchive is the latest available.
     
    ShefSam likes this.
  4. andrews_unity

    andrews_unity

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    So the position here is we only explicitly support the canonical based LTS releases, and not the Ubuntu based distros and the reason for this is mainly around resources and just ensuring that we can provide the best support possible.
     
    MilitaryG and Brogan89 like this.
  5. andrews_unity

    andrews_unity

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    Can you you report a bug for this and create a new thread outside this one for this issue :D
     
    btristan likes this.
  6. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    I know that, I was just saying that Unity works fine on Ubuntu based Linux distros.

    Regarding bug reports, there had been steps made towards people reporting problems that were not using Ubuntu 18 or 20 in the recent past; is that over and will we be considered not worthy of any help from you guys again?
     
    ivaylo5ev likes this.
  7. andrews_unity

    andrews_unity

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    Our position is the same on that front if the issues are reporducable on the supported distros then we will provide support.
     
    Brogan89 likes this.
  8. unity_xW6sO8ps9h_vPA

    unity_xW6sO8ps9h_vPA

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    I have the Unity Hub App Image in my Ubuntu 20.04 and all the unity editor seems to crash whenever I try to open ou create a project. Just the Unity 2018 works.
     
  9. heitorzorah

    heitorzorah

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    This means only the main GNOME version or the flavors as well?
    What about xorg or wayland?


    Thank you for your time.

    And what about CentOS 8? Or users are still using 7 more than 8?


    REALLY glad to read this!

    What about Snap/Flatpak releases? Wouldn't that help? Or running dev things in contained environments just doesn't work?

    2020.2 LTS will be out next year, right?

    Thank you for your time.
     
  10. KevinWelton

    KevinWelton

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    @heitorzorah, we currently support the GNOME window manager with an X11 backend. We can't support default CentOS 8 installations until we add official support for Wayland, which we do not have a timetable on.

    As for containers, it's something we want to support. Some users have gotten building to work in Docker, but parts of the process to get it working are non-trivial.
     
    EthanFischer and Steedalion like this.
  11. jvetulani

    jvetulani

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    Currently in all the 2020 betas on Ubuntu 18.04 the Editor performance is 6-9fps, always in single digits, in 2020.1.3f1 the default URP scene runs at 600fps on the same machine.

    I'd submit a bug report but the bug reporter crashes... I'd submit a bug report that the bug reporter crashes.. but um...

    Ubuntu 18.04.4
    Intel i7-8700K
    Nvidia GTX 1080
    32 gigs of ram

    Legacy, URP on both Vulkan and OpenGL
     
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  12. Deleted User

    Deleted User

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    There is already a bug report. It's supposed to be fixed in b5.
     
  13. HerbertSSchaefer

    HerbertSSchaefer

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    The most important thing is to have a up-to-date list of the dependencies, maybe a official supported kernel version. Or better, have UnityHub list the dependencies of new installations.

    Ubuntu is a great distro to have official support, if you also had vanilla Debian and Arch (or official Aur package) you would basically have 99% of the desktop linux users. But having Ubuntu and a Flatpack is more than good enough.

    I'm using Artix Linux, kernel 5.8.12 Zen. Can confirm Unity 2019.4 and 2020.1 working almost flawlessly with Awesome WM 4.3, LXQT 0.15.1 (Qt base 5.15) and KDE Plasma 5.19.

    Having the same low fps issue as jvetulani in Unity 2020.2.b5, haven't made a bug report cause i haven't had the time to see if it was my setup or a bug.

    Thanks! Great work!
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2020
    Brogan89 and goncalo-vasconcelos like this.
  14. andrews_unity

    andrews_unity

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    We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.
     
  15. LearningNot

    LearningNot

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    ye i would like if there is a list of all deps and stuff i need, atm on Void Linux i get glitching with UI elements all time :(
     
    dginovker likes this.
  16. jvetulani

    jvetulani

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    It's still in b7, 9 fps instead of 300-400 fps.
     
  17. Deleted User

    Deleted User

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    Yeah, it was announced that the fix would be for b8, unless...
     
  18. LearningNot

    LearningNot

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    hmm just installed Ubuntu 20.4 LTS , hmm UI gliching i got on void disappeared , i think tough its not void related cuz i first installed lubuntu and head same gliching, but i still get issue when i try to exit Unity it stucks/freezes and i have to kill it to close
    tough maybe cuz am using 2019 lts unity version
     
  19. Saggingcube

    Saggingcube

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    b8 still has the 9-10fps bug... sad face. On a positive note, HDRP seems to be much more stable, and the new demo scene is gorgeous!
     
  20. mahmoudk1000

    mahmoudk1000

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    im trying to learn game develop but i have this problem i think compiler related
    error mssage "error CS1056: Unexpected character" so any help would be appreciated. thanks
    my code here https://del.dog/tifamygnys
    or
    using System.Collections;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using UnityEngine;

    public class PlayerController : MonoBehaviour
    {
    // Start is called before the first frame update
    void Start()
    {

    }
    private float speed = 20.0f;
    private float turnSpeed = 45.0f;
    private float horizontalInput;
    private float forwardInput;
    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update()
    {
    horizontalInput = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");
    forwardInput = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");
    // Moves the car forward based on vertical input
    transform.Translate(Vector3.forward * Time.deltaTime * speed * forwardInput);
    // Rotates the car based on horizontal input
    transform.Rotate(Vector3.up * turnSpeed * horizontalInput * Time.deltaTime);
    }
    }
     
  21. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    Create a new thread and, please, use the code tags to post your script.
     
    EthanFischer likes this.
  22. BrewNCode

    BrewNCode

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    I currently bought a Pop OS laptop. so how does this work in linux? Just going to the Unity hub and do the same thing or do I have to click a different link?
     
  23. hexiy

    hexiy

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    I just switched to Ubuntu 20.10 and tried Unity 2019.4.16f1 and it was horrible on Vulkan. Opengl made a little difference but still, scene and game views were supposedly running at 200fps but the spikes were huge, making it unusable. Also resizing and moving windows in editor was just slow compared to Windows.
    specs: Ryzen 5 1600, N GTX 1650, 16gb ram.

    Hopefully one day i will be able to use Linux editor for my work projects too. But it's not quite there yet. Hopefully we can get there soon.

    Edit: I found what my issue was, my mouse polling rate was too high, causing stutter when having pressed any mouse button
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2020
    kristoof likes this.
  24. kristoof

    kristoof

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    I don’t think mouse polling should have an effect on rendering stuff.
    I had the same issues wih vulkan and editor performance.

    I tried to run the windows version of the editor with Proton/DXVK in dx11 mode and it was far superior and much more responsive just like on windows.
    It had some bugs but worked pretty good compared to how it was a few years ago.
    Hopefully in a few years... (i really need dx11/12)
     
  25. BrewNCode

    BrewNCode

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    question: How did you install unity? just normally in Unity hub like in any windows machine?
     
  26. kristoof

    kristoof

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    Well, It's a bit buggy but essentially yes.
    I used crossover, created a new win10x64 bottle, and installed the hub.
    Then I installed the editor and created a new project.
    The hub very messy, it can create projects but cannot open them.
    To open a project I just used the wine task manager, browsed to the project folder, and opened a scene file as run.
    I enabled high-performance graphics and DXVK in the bottle and installed DXVK and DX redists.



    To be fair It's nowhere near usable xd
    The compilers won't work under wine and if you add a C# script you get unclearable errors in the console about page faults.

    I'm not sure if it will be officially supported ever but I have high hopes for full windows compatibility on Linux in a few years (Kernel 5.11 can emulate syscalls!!!)
     
    ivaylo5ev likes this.
  27. MadWatch

    MadWatch

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    Why use Wine or Proton when a native Linux version of Unity (and Hub) is available and working?
     
  28. kristoof

    kristoof

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    Because I depend on DX11 for my current projects.
    It's not a viable use-case, I was just curious if it would work.
     
  29. enesefendi

    enesefendi

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    This bug is still present after 2 years.
    Repaint after alt tab and top menu issue.
    Happens if there is no compositing application running.

    It's okay if it wont get fixed, just let me know please, thanks.

     
  30. KevinWelton

    KevinWelton

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    @enesefendi: Feel free to open a new topic for this issue you're seeing. Offhand, I don't know what version of Unity is running, and the desktop UI doesn't lead me to believe it's one of our supported configs (GNOME Window Manager on Ubuntu 18.04/20.04/CentOS 7.)
     
  31. enesefendi

    enesefendi

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    upload_2021-2-8_0-19-32.png

    Happens on all versions other than 2018 one if a compositor is not running.

    I switched to kde, with kwin compositor unity works fine.
     
  32. HeitorVieira

    HeitorVieira

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    For me, even in KDE, the bug still happens. Unity only draws the panels on mouseover.
     
  33. FuzzyP

    FuzzyP

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    I have Unity Hub installed, via AppImage, on Ubuntu Studio 21.04. I also keep in on an Ubuntu 20.04 machine just in case. So far, it works nearly the same on either, even though 21.04 is not an LTS.

    In neither installation am I able to get a WebGL build to actually build. I have installed libtinfo5 and Python2. Both times, the build got further along, but ultimately failed.

    I am lost as to what to try next.
     
  34. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    What about Unity 2021 and Linux?
     
  35. RichAllen2023

    RichAllen2023

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    I've been trying to work with Unity 2020.3 on Linux Debian since the end of May, and every time I try and run one of the tutorials from the website, the thing crashes back to the Desktop.

    Would there be a way to get a more supported version of Linux on my box? I know Linux support in general on Chrome is "experimental" at the moment.
     
  36. JeffDUnity3D

    JeffDUnity3D

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    Same answers as previously, several you haven't replied back. Did you get your system into Developer mode?
     
  37. RichAllen2023

    RichAllen2023

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    No, I've been advised it could kill my system so not to do it.

    Before you go insulting my Brother (do so and I'll report you) he's an Internet security expert who's done Uni and everything.
     
  38. JeffDUnity3D

    JeffDUnity3D

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    Your brother advised it would kill it? I sent you the instructions, looks ok to me. Who insulted your brother? Sorry to hear that, I believe you may be referring to someone else. I've been personally trying to help you for about a year now, remember? I'm your Unity friend :)
     
    N8W1nD likes this.
  39. xortrox

    xortrox

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    Hey, I stumbled upon this forum while searching for a potential solution. I've been trying to run the unity linux editor in docker using https://game.ci/ images, it seems that the support for GLSL reported by the editor is v3.3 and as such this means Gaia Pro will not work as it relies on compute shaders (I've made a ticket with procedural worlds about this as well). Is the problems perhaps Docker, or is there no official support for compute shaders in the linux editor yet?
     
  40. MadWatch

    MadWatch

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    I can confirm that compute shaders work on Linux. I'm using them.
     
  41. xortrox

    xortrox

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    Just to clarify, this is then used in the editor as Editor specific functions ran with Editor scripts? And not in a build/standalone?

    If so, did you have to install OpenGL or anything special to set this up?
     
  42. MadWatch

    MadWatch

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    Yes, it's in the editor. No, I didn't have to install or configure anything to make it work.
    I'm not using OpenGL though I'm using Vulkan, maybe that's why.
     
  43. xortrox

    xortrox

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    I see, then I worry that maybe it's just the fact it runs in docker which causes issues.
     
  44. FritzsHero

    FritzsHero

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    Maybe you can have a look at Case 1356898 to improve the LTS releases.
    Other then this bug everything just works.
    It feels like Unity reacts faster on Ubuntu.
    Thank you for your work on this.
     
  45. chmpy

    chmpy

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    having a little problem with installing, since my / partition is not that big, would It be possible to offsite the
    process of installation particularly the unpacking in the /home partition instead or atleast have a choice beforehand.
    I'm on linux mint btw, not that it matters for this particular problem.
     
  46. JeffDUnity3D

    JeffDUnity3D

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    Please describe your problem.
     
  47. rbarbosa

    rbarbosa

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    What are the installation steps? Is there some documentation somewhere? My experience getting Unity running on Linux has been ABSOLUTELY ABYSMAL. Running Hub from AppImage, downloaded the editor (I've tried both the current and LTS versions) and to that point, things are okay. But once you try opening the C# project, things take a very sharp turn towards ridiculous.

    VS Code opens up fine, but OmniSharp dies (depending on how you installed the components ... flatpak vs apt ... it dies with different messages). It just seems to be a cluster of disagreeable versions. Whether it doesn't like .Net SDK 3 or it doesn't like .Net SDK 5 (I've tried both ... neither worked). Whether OmniSharp doesn't like the installed version of Mono and chooses to use its own (I've tried both ... neither worked).

    I don't see how this is considered "supported" if you can't run the debugger and intellisense doesn't work because both rely on OmniSharp (not a Unity product) which doesn't like the version of Mono which doesn't like the version of .Net SDK.

    Is there an install guide that gets you out of version conflict hell?

    Here's the most recent error I'm dealing with below? Any takers? Thanks!

    Code (CSharp):
    1. Starting OmniSharp server at 9/15/2021, 9:30:54 AM
    2.     Target: /home/rbarbosa/UnityProjects/Test/Test.sln
    3.  
    4. OmniSharp server started with Mono 6.12.0.
    5.     Path: /home/rbarbosa/.vscode/extensions/ms-dotnettools.csharp-1.23.15/.omnisharp/1.37.15/omnisharp/OmniSharp.exe
    6.     PID: 15067
    7.  
    8. System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'McMaster.Extensions.CommandLineUtils.CommandLineApplication' threw an exception. ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation, Version=4.0.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies.
    9.    --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
    10.   at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Object.__icall_wrapper_mono_generic_class_init(intptr)
    11.   at OmniSharp.CommandLineApplication..ctor () [0x00006] in <97ecc425804b41999f2fc93560b238f8>:0
    12.   at OmniSharp.Stdio.StdioCommandLineApplication..ctor () [0x00000] in <08ec318a4de440fbb214735376fa2310>:0
    13.   at OmniSharp.Stdio.Driver.Program+<>c__DisplayClass0_0.<Main>b__0 () [0x00006] in <2bc64548173b47b985fc98182718b75a>:0
    14.   at OmniSharp.HostHelpers.Start (System.Func`1[TResult] action) [0x0001c] in <97ecc425804b41999f2fc93560b238f8>:0
    15.  
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2021
  48. rbarbosa

    rbarbosa

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    So my "solution" to this was essentially to abandon vs code. The dependency between Unity's own debugger plugin and Microsoft's C# plugin just isn't worth the headache.

    Running Unity Editor 2021.1.20f1 with the JetBrains Rider package from snapcraft.io just worked out of the box. I had to install a .Net SDK (but didn't specifically have to install mono ... at least so far). I know Rider is a fee-based product, but for the headache it save it ... I'll pay the price of admission.

    Debugger works (which was the biggest problem setting up).

    I don't know if I will eventually have to install mono-devel, but so far things are working light years better than using the "standard" installation.

     
  49. MadWatch

    MadWatch

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    This is not Unity's fault. OmniSharp is crap.

    Getting VS Code to work with C# is always a pain, not just on Linux but on Windows and Mac too. You always have to tweak things to get it to work, and then it updates itself (without asking you first) and it breaks again. That's why I gave up using it.

    If you really want to get VS Code to work with Unity then first don't install it with flatpak, install it with deb or snap instead. Then if you search this forum you will find some guides on how to get IntelliSense to work. I wrote one here a long time ago. I can't guarantee its up to date.

    Otherwise yes, Rider works out of the box. That's what I'm using now.
     
    N8W1nD likes this.
  50. rbarbosa

    rbarbosa

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    @MadWatch you are 100% correct. OmniSharp is trash, and I've shifted away from flatpaks to native packages.

    At the end of the day, Rider was the clue that allowed me to understand what was needed. I was able to get it working using .Net 5 with full debugging in Rider. In this configuration, Mono does not appear to be needed.

    So, with that I went back to VS Code with at least the understanding that .Net 5 SDK will work.

    Then it just came down to the linkage between OmniSharp and the Unity Debugger extension. This definitely needs mono-devel to be installed, and you set OmniSharp to always use the global mono installation. I believe (but I'm not certain) what finally got me over the hump and got EVERYTHING working in VS Code was the choice of which "project file" you open when you're transitioned from the Unity Editor to VS Code. If you choose the solution file (.sln) ... you seem to be well and truly bork'd. But if you open the .csproj file, then the debugger works and I now have a full end-to-end pipeline.

    It really shouldn't be this hard. Hey Unity ... enter into an agreement with JetBrains to include a free copy of Rider with every Unity installation. It'll make life easier for everyone!