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./play.it(6) Games Manual ./play.it(6)

NAME

./play.it — Installer for drm-free commercial games

SYNOPSIS

./play.it archive [--checksum md5 | none] [--compression none | speed | size | auto] [--prefix path] [--package arch | deb | gentoo | egentoo] [--no-icons] [--overwrite] [--output-dir path] [--no-mtree] [--tmpdir path] [--no-free-space-check] [--collection-path path] [--show-game-script] [--config-file path] [--list-packages] [--list-requirements] [--list-available-scripts] [--list-supported-games]

DESCRIPTION

./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

md5 |
Archive integrity verification method selection.
md5sum verification
no verification
none | | |
Generated packages compression method selection.
no compression
compression method focusing on compression speed
compression method focusing on size reduction
default compression method on the current system
path
Game installation path setting.

This option accepts an absolute path only.

arch | | |
Generated package type selection.
Do not include game icons.
Replace packages if they already exist.
path
Set the output directory for generated packages.
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.
path
Set the directory used for temporary files storage. Default value is: TMPDIR
Do not check for free space.
path
Limit the search for game scripts to a given path.
Only display the name of the game script to use, without running it.
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.
Print the list of packages to build.
Print the list of commands required to build packages from the given archive.
Print the list of game scripts available on this system.
Print the list of supported games. Warning: this operation can take several minutes.

ENVIRONMENT

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)
Default place where temporary files are processed. (default: /tmp)
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.
January 26, 2025 Debian