That's why you use Ubuntu(/-based) or Arch(-based). Anything else leads straight down to hell.
Of course, if you are trying to compile some obscure piece of software that was developed 8 years ago and forgotten 7 years ago, some funny stuff can happen...
As a game developer, I genuinely wish for AIDS to be inflicted upon every Linux user on the planet. Mac users get a pass because they complain a lot less and understand that their machines are meant for shit like watching YouTube.
Having released software that works on Linux, I second that. A whiny, entitled bunch. The whining stopped after I doubled-down on a position that Linux support exists for developer convenience, code quality and superior debugging.
As such, it took me several years to finish proper Linux hotkey support only to receive a new burst of whining. RTFM or die.
For game development I'd never release Linux or OSX versions in
official capacity. Linux users are basement-dwelling contrarians, while OSX has broken GL support with no apparent improvement over the years.
I'm developing cross-platform since many years and if you do it right, you just don't have a lot of problems with either platform. And Linux users are simply the more helpful userbase due to their knowledge. From Windows you typically just get "this shit doesn't work". From Linux you get "This shit doesn't work. It is probably an X or Y problem, did you try using A or B?", on occasion, anyway.
And I'm also developing cross-platform
from Linux, not just launch the Linux executable once in a blue moon to see if it actually runs
Honestly, you come off as someone having no idea what you are doing if stuff like hotkey support posed a years-long problem to you. Qt is manna from heaven in ease of use. Though I do admit that global hotkeys is one of the things it totally sucks at, I had to do the same in Windows once (took me... a week).
If you know a platform well, you can develop good software for it. Game or not, doesn't matter.
Fragmentation on Linux is a problem, but nobody expects you to support everything. Just go with Ubuntu (and possibly Arch) and you are golden. The few peabrains that use anything else and then expect game devs to support them are beyond reason.
There is one good reason not to bother developing for Linux, and that is the low market share. It is not as low as some statistics would lead you to believe, but still low enough to have "I won't bother" be a legitimate statement.
Of course, it is offset by the vastly superior development & debugging environment, but that's something you don't really believe before you try it... and getting to know the platform takes some time which some are not willing to spend.
Either way, as soon as you officially support a platform, that means you really do have to support it. Just clicking the "Export to linux" button without any proper testing makes as much sense as pressing the "Export to PS4" button without any proper testing.
I much rather run a Windows native game via Proton than dealing with a crappy Linux native build.
How do you think Pathfinder: Kingmaker released on Linux without working save games?
RPGs playable through the WINE [...] This is a list of games that you can expect to be PLAYABLE, out of the box, or with some minor tweaks.
The original post is pure disinformation. You can't get comparable performance on any remotely recent title. That includes even Skyrim, not to mention the new Deus Ex games.
It doesn't matter whether the GPU is NVIDIA or AMD, whether you use gallium-nine or wined3d. You get 70% FPS in a typical case. Newer the game, the worse it gets. As titles come out they use more recent GPU features, hence worse performance.
It is true that you don't get 100% the same performance. It is a compatibility layer, that will always cost at least some.
But it is equally true that nobody needs 100% of the performance. You need 60fps (or whatever your refresh rate) to play without problems. Who cares if you could have achieved 240fps on Windows, but only 177fps on Linux, if what you need isn't even half that much?
Also, I always urge people to dual-boot.
That way, you can almost always use a wonderfully customizable system that won't get in your way. But you can switch to Windows, too, for that odd game that just won't work on Linux.
