play.it(6)

Usage

./play.it [--collection-path path] [--list-packages] [--list-requirements] [--show-game-script] archive

./play.it [--collection-path path] [--list-available-scripts] [--list-supported-games] [--version]

Overview

./play.it is a free software building native packages from installers for Windows or Linux, mainly those sold by stores focusing on DRM-free games distribution. The goal is that a game installed via ./play.it is indistinguishable from a game installed via the official repositories of your favorite distribution.

The games are installed globally on multi-user systems, avoiding unnecessary duplication. The locations of save games, settings, mods, temporary files and backups are standardized with XDG Base Directory support.

Packaging the games simplifies future updates, uninstalls and handling of any necessary dependencies, including integrated obsolete dependencies if specific versions are needed.

Options

--checksum md5 | none

Archive integrity verification method selection.

md5: md5sum verification
none: no verification

--compression none | speed | size | auto

Generated packages compression method selection.

none: no compression
speed: compression method focusing on compression speed
size: compression method focusing on size reduction
auto: default compression method on the current system

--prefix path

Game installation path setting.

This option accepts an absolute path only.

--package arch | deb | gentoo | egentoo

Generated package type selection.

arch: .pkg.tar package (Arch Linux)
deb: .deb package (Debian, Ubuntu)
gentoo: .tbz2 package (Gentoo)
egentoo: .tar package with an associated .ebuild (Gentoo)

--no-icons

Do not include game icons.

--overwrite

Replace packages if they already exist.

--output-dir path

Set the output directory for generated packages.

--no-mtree

Do not create .MTREE files in Arch Linux packages. As these files contain a hash of every file in the package, they may be quite long to create when dealing with big games.

--tmpdir path

Set the directory used for temporary files storage. Default value is: TMPDIR

--no-free-space-check

Do not check for free space.

--collection-path path

Limit the search for game scripts to a given path.

--show-game-script

Only display the name of the game script to use, without running it.

--config-file path

Set the configuration file path. Default path is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/play.it/config or $HOME/config/play.it/config if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset. Configuration file contains list of additional command-line parameters that will be passed to ./play.it as if they were given on the command-line.

--list-packages

Print the list of packages to build.

--list-requirements

Print the list of commands required to build packages from the given archive.

--list-available-scripts

Print the list of game scripts available on this system.

--list-supported-games

Print the list of supported games. Warning: this operation can take several minutes.

Environment

PLAYIT_LIB2: If set, overrides the provided version of libplayit2.sh (and its supported games) to a local copy for development. (default: /usr/share/games/play.it/libplayit2.sh)
TMPDIR: Default place where temporary files are processed. (default: /tmp)
XDG_CONFIG_HOME: Used in the configuration file default path.

Files

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/play.it/config: Default path to the configuration file. This file contains a list of additional command-line parameters that will be passed to ./play.it as if they were given on the command-line.

Compression

Arch Linux

When building packages for Arch Linux (with --package arch):

--compression speed: Use zstd compression with the flag --fast=1.
--compression size: Use zstd compression with the flag -19.
--compression auto: Unsupported option.

Debian

When building packages for Debian (with --package deb):

--compression speed: Use gzip compression.
--compression size: Use xz compression.
--compression auto: Rely on the default dpkg-deb behaviour. This behaviour can be controlled using the environment variables DPKG_DEB_THREADS_MAX, DPKG_DEB_COMPRESSOR_TYPE and DPKG_DEB_COMPRESSOR_LEVEL. See dpkg-deb(1) for more details on how these can be used.

Gentoo

When building packages for Gentoo (with --package gentoo or --package egentoo)

--compression speed: Use gzip compression.
--compression size: Use bzip2 compression.
--compression auto: Rely on the default ebuild behaviour. This behaviour can be controlled using the environment variables BINPKG_COMPRESS and BINPKG_COMPRESS_FLAGS. See make.conf(5) for more details on how these can be used.

Releases

4 releases since Debian 10 (Buster); the text changed 3 times.

10
11
12
13

--collection-path since Debian 13 (Trixie); --config-file since Debian 13 (Trixie); --list-available-scripts since Debian 13 (Trixie); --list-packages since Debian 13 (Trixie); --list-requirements since Debian 13 (Trixie); --list-supported-games since Debian 13 (Trixie); --no-free-space-check since Debian 13 (Trixie); --no-icons since Debian 13 (Trixie); --no-mtree since Debian 13 (Trixie); --output-dir since Debian 13 (Trixie); --overwrite since Debian 13 (Trixie); --prefix since Debian 13 (Trixie); --show-game-script since Debian 13 (Trixie); --tmpdir since Debian 13 (Trixie).