Valve and Arch Linux have entered into a direct collaboration agreement, with Valve supporting two projects that will help further Arch Linux and Linux gaming in general.

Valve is one of the leading game publishers and distributors, and is the main way many gamers access their favorite titles via its Steam platform. The company also makes the Steam Deck, a handheld console that can be docked for traditional console play. The Steam Deck runs SteamOS, which is based on Arch Linux, meaning it can also be used as a full-fledged Linux computer as well.

Catch our chat on Valve and Arch Linux boosting Linux gaming!

Given the role Arch Linux plays in Valve’s product line, it’s not surprising the two entities are collaborating. In an announcement on the Arch mailing list, Levente Polyak said Valve will provide backing for a build service infrastructure, as well as a secure signing enclave.

We are excited to announce that Arch Linux is entering into a direct collaboration with Valve. Valve is generously providing backing for two critical projects that will have a huge impact on our distribution: a build service infrastructure and a secure signing enclave. By supporting work on a freelance basis for these topics, Valve enables us to work on them without being limited solely by the free time of our volunteers.

This opportunity allows us to address some of the biggest outstanding challenges we have been facing for a while. The collaboration will speed-up the progress that would otherwise take much longer for us to achieve, and will ultimately unblock us from finally pursuing some of our planned endeavors. We are incredibly grateful for Valve to make this possible and for their explicit commitment to help and support Arch Linux.

These projects will follow our usual development and consensus-building workflows. [RFCs] will be created for any wide-ranging changes. Discussions on this mailing list as well as issue, milestone and epic planning in our GitLab will provide transparency and insight into the work. We believe this collaboration will greatly benefit Arch Linux, and are looking forward to share further development on this mailing list as work progresses.

Valve has emerged as a major force for good in the Linux community, doing a tremendous amount of work that benefits the community at large. This latest measure is an excellent example of a corporation that depends on Linux for some of its products giving back to the community and helping the foundation its products rely on.