[SOLVED] How to install "libGL" (i386) on Debian 9 (amd64)?

[Fernando Negro]

I'm trying to install a free 3D game, on my 64-bit computer, according to the instructions written in the Debian Wiki here: https://wiki.debian.org/Games/WolfensteinEnemyTerritory

But, when I get to the part of "Now we need to install libGL", I get an error executing any of the two following commands (i.e. either if I'm using the proprietary NVIDIA driver or if I'm using the free "nouveau" one instead).

~$ sudo apt-get install libgl1-nvidia-glx-i386
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package libgl1-nvidia-glx-i386:i386 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'libgl1-nvidia-glx-i386:i386' has no installation candidate

~$ sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386' has no installation candidate

Note: Right now, I'm just using the free "nouveau" driver, to make things more simple. So, the method I'm trying to use now is the second one, of installing something similar(?) to the "libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386" package...

[Head_on_a_Stick]

"libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386"

^ This isn't available in stretch:

https://packages.debian.org/search?keyw ... ection=all

Looks like libgl1-mesa-dri & libgl1-mesa-glx may have replaced it but I'm not sure.

Just to confirm: have you added the 32-bit architecture and updated your sources?

This should show us:

Code: Select all

dpkg --print-foreign-architectures

[Fernando Negro]

Hello, Head_on_a_Stick.

Thank you for your help.

Yes. I have added the 32-bit architecture and updated my sources. I followed all the steps on that Wiki page, until I reached the error with installing "libGL". And, the result I get from executing the command that you gave me is: "i386".

From what I understand, also (I can see that such packages existed in previous Debian versions, but don't exist in this one) I'm assuming some new packages took their place. The question is: "Which ones?"

Looking for the files inside this "libgl1-mesa-swx11:i386" package in "oldstable" (https://packages.debian.org/jessie/i386 ... 1/filelist) I can see that the main content of such package is the "libGL.so.1" and "libGL.so.1.6.0" files. And, looking for such files in "Strech", I can only find the following about the "libGL.so.1" file: https://packages.debian.org/search?sear ... &arch=i386

And, from exclusion of parts (I'm not using the "nvidia" driver or an "optimus" graphics card) I'm assuming that the "libgl1-mesa-glx" package (https://packages.debian.org/stretch/i38 ... x/filelist) is the correct substitute - although it has a "libGL.so.1.2.0" version, instead of a "libGL.so.1.6.0" one like in "oldstable".

But, as you mention (and I also suspected it might be the case) the situation might have evolved into one that now requires other packages too, like the "libgl1-mesa-dri" one that you mention (https://packages.debian.org/stretch/i38 ... i/filelist).

Not knowing anything about these libraries, I'm really in the dark here...

And, the reason why I'm looking for a definitive answer, is because I know that this game might complain later about missing libraries, in order to run. And, if I'm not sure that I have correctly installed this "libGL" one, then I'll probably have problems later, with identifying which libraries are missing.

Anyway, I'll make the test of installing the packages that you mention, and see how it goes...

[Fernando Negro]

Success.

Because the "libgl1-mesa-glx" package was the only one were I could find the same files, I first made the test of just installing that one. And, when executing the command to install it, the computer asked me to install the "libgl1-mesa-dri" one also (as well as a bunch of other libraries).

The following NEW packages will be installed:
libdrm-amdgpu1:i386 libdrm-intel1:i386 libdrm-nouveau2:i386 libdrm-radeon1:i386 libdrm2:i386 libedit2:i386 libelf1:i386 libexpat1:i386 libffi6:i386
libgcrypt20:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386 libgpg-error0:i386 libgpm2:i386 libllvm3.9:i386 libncurses5:i386
libpciaccess0:i386 libsensors4:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtinfo5:i386 libtxc-dxtn-s2tc:i386 libx11-xcb1:i386 libxcb-dri2-0:i386 libxcb-dri3-0:i386
libxcb-glx0:i386 libxcb-present0:i386 libxcb-sync1:i386 libxdamage1:i386 libxfixes3:i386 libxshmfence1:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 zlib1g:i386
0 upgraded, 33 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

After this, I made the test of installing the game, and running it - and, unlike in other occasions, with different versions of this game, I was able to run it.

If the game is able to run, then it's because it has all the necessary libraries (a common complain this game makes) running well. And, since I didn't get any error messages when installing the package in "Stretch" that (apparently) has the "libGL" library, I can only deduce that it was correctly installed...

The answer to my question, then, is to just run the command: sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386

I'm then marking this thread as "solved".

Thank you very much for your help, Head_on_a_Stick.