Intel's Clear Linux Has Code In Place To Begin Handling Proprietary Packages Like Chrome & Steam

One of the most frequent critiques of Intel's Clear Linux distribution has been its lackluster support in dealing with proprietary/third-party packages like the Google Chrome web browser and Valve's Steam gaming client. Since last summer, Clear Linux has been working on their third-party packaging support with their unique "bundles" system, but not much has been heard on the matter since.

A Clear Linux user this week finally brought up the topic again of this third-party/proprietary package (bundle) handling for Clear Linux. The response from Intel Fellow Arjan van de Ven is that the code is actually now in place albeit lacks documentation and testing.

the 3rd party repo stuff is in the code, what we lack most of all is documentation and testing, so ... lets call it early early beta but anyone can now make 3rd party repos in principle.

I'm sure there'll be some rough edges obviously as we mature the feature by using it

This question has been one I've been wondering about as well in recent months, so surprised to hear the code quietly landed without any attention. Certainly seeing the likes of Google Chrome and Steam among other proprietary/third-party software packages would certainly be welcome for this performance-optimized Linux distribution. In the past some users have also talked about the possibility of seeing some of Intel's proprietary software also packaged for Clear Linux. In any case, we'll see what bundles come about and how the support/documentation improves over the months ahead.