I used to use macOS and I have a weaker extra PC with Windows that I barely use, but my main PC is now running Linux (ZorinOS). I really missed having a version of Solar2D for this system. I saw that there’s a very old version in snap and others in appimage, but none are 100% functional and up-to-date. Is the community really not interested in porting the version to Linux? Considering that many people are migrating from Windows to Linux because of Microsoft’s nonsensical requirements and the high cost of Macs? Several governments and people across Europe and the rest of the world are migrating to Linux to escape the control of big tech companies, so there’s nothing better than having this great tool in the Linux world. Is the only way to use Solar2D really to have another machine with a compatible operating system? Or resort to less performant methods like virtual machines?
I used Solar2D on Linux for a while, building it from source. It worked well with HTML/Android builds.
However, most plugins currently don’t support Linux (I tried rebuid some from .dll to .a to make them work with Linux).
You can check this post.
It was literally a struggle! It’s really not worth all that work to get it working… What a shame!
I will make a tutorial video if I have time to install Linux on my current computer.
It would be a great help to me and certainly to the entire Linux community.
I mean it’s not ideal but maybe Windows App Support would help with it until a working Linux version comes out → Windows App Support - Zorin Help
I’ve already tried that solution, in addition to Wine and Bottles; they even work to open and use Solar2D. The problem is that these tools create a sandbox that doesn’t give access to the local Java on the machine to generate the app build.
I was not aware of that. It sucks. Hopefully, we will get there. I can see 2 PRs regarding Linux builds have been made so there are attempts to make it work I guess.
I’ve been looking into Solar2DTux and Solar2D’s current Linux implementation in general quite a bit. It’s something I’ve been thinking of starting to work on, but I’m currently in a situation where I need to look for a regular job first and then see what time I’d have to work on that on my free time.
From what I’ve seen, the engine itself is mostly there, just needs some work on certain features. The plugins are a problem, like Kan already said. Still, that being said, most of Solar2D’s existing plugins are for iOS/Android anyway and don’t even support Windows/macOS.
Since I develop for Android and iOS, the plugin issue wouldn’t be a problem for me, but we have to think about others too, right? I believe the most difficult part was getting Solar2D to work on Linux! And it already works in some ways, so it’s really just a few details that are missing. I can’t contribute because my knowledge isn’t that advanced in this area; I even tried using AI, but it hindered more than it helped in this specific case. I see that several people are interested in this issue, but let’s hope it gets resolved soon.
Porting to linux is doubtful with its < 5% market share (mostly frustrated windows 10 users with really old hardware). You can get a PC for not much money - a new perfectly usable laptop is only $400 and a mac is still required for iOS builds.
Very limited resources are much better spent on Android/iOS constant updates to stay viable in the real world as this affects most solar users.
I do agree that the main maintainers efforts should be focused solely on supporting the existing platforms. That being said, Linux could be worked on by community members, like myself.
I have no experience with Gradle or Android side engine development, but I do have experience with Linux. Unlike with adding support for entirely new features or systems, like with Android 17, making Solar2D simulator work and build apps for Linux comes with a full roadmap of what existing features Solar2D has and how they work on Windows and macOS, which makes things a lot easier.
Just a reminder that my intention is to create iOS and Android apps on Linux, not apps for Linux. The argument that porting Solar2D to Linux isn’t worthwhile is quite relative, because if you argue that it’s not worthwhile because Linux is a little-used system, that would be hypocritical. If you think that way, developers could be focusing on tools like React Native and Flutter, which are the majority in the market, and even though it’s the tool I use daily, Solar2D is in the minority in that context. So, in my opinion, it is worthwhile porting to Linux, and you can count on my collaboration, even if it’s just to create an icon.
Solar2D simulator already runs on Linux and it can build for Linux too, but it isn’t at feature parity with Windows and macOS. For instance, masks are not supported on Linux right now and any masked textures get all messed up, but most other things are already working. Solar2D’s installation process is also not very straightforward at the moment for Linux.
But, the point is that if someone wants to develop apps on Linux, then the installation should work easily and it should be at (near) feature parity with Windows and macOS platforms. Obviously it couldn’t support all platform specific features.
I haven’t checked, but the Android build system should be fairly easy to get working on Linux (if it doesn’t already), based on Windows and macOS implementation. Building for iOS, however, will not work directly from Linux (or Windows), but you can get around that with GitHub Actions.