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Photoshop is the Sisyphus of software compatibility on Wine. Can play the latest UE5 based game via Proton, still struggles with Photoshop. The funny state of

Photoshop is the Sisyphus of software compatibility on Wine. Can play the latest UE5 based game via Proton, still struggles with Photoshop. The funny state of Linux-Windows compatibility. I get it, not undermining game development - it is a fine art but games are tight code bases that work on a lot of repetitive tasks. Utilities can be exceptionally broad in their scope. Also helps that coders who are gamers can be VERY dedicated to fixing the issues that hold them back from said games. It is just neat that Photoshop is still this elusive thing that seems to also just be a foot away from working perfectly out of the box. I mean I have seen Wine run all manner of applications and home brew games without an issue.

threatripper 2y ago
I suspect a co-evolution in games is at play. In a way that the game developers are nudged by Steam to prefer using compatible features and Steam works together with game engine developers.
- DaoVeles 2y ago
  Absolutely. Nowadays it feels like the best development tools for Linux is the Win32 tool chain. No need for native ports if proton can be the glue between the systems.
- MindSpunk 2y ago
  It’s just that games are easier to run on wine because they touch a comparatively small portion of the Windows API. Windowing, controller input, file system, networking, audio and directx covers the overwhelming majority of Windows API endpoints that need to be translated by wine. Their interaction with these APIs is relatively simple, open a window, read a few files, open a udp socket. Directx is hard, but the tools have gotten scary good lately (dxvk, vkd3d-proton). Compared to a complex tool like Photoshop which will be touching many more system APIs that need to behave correctly (file locking, codecs, COM). Arguably a Windows PE executable using Vulkan and run in Proton is a better way to ship a game to run on Linux than building a native Linux executable. It’s actually more portable because the Windows API and environment is more stable and consistent than some arbitrary Linux user space. No glibc versioning BS or dynamic linker path BS or any other number of strange things users can do. Just stable Win32. Valve actually recommends this over a native Linux build currently.
  - thriftwy 2y ago
    I don't buy Photoshop as a heavy exotic APIs user. In many ways it's about pure computations involving images represented as data structures. Perhaps there used to be some USB to talk to cameras but that's it. I believe their Mac version has no COM so why Windows version has to rely on it? I wonder why Adobe does not make some effort to support Wine, such as testing for this platform.
    - Wowfunhappy 2y ago
      > I don't buy Photoshop as a heavy exotic APIs user. Based on TFA, it sounds like Photoshop works fine in Wine. It's the Creative Cloud app that has issues.
qwery 2y ago
Assuming that there is a difference and it's on the "wine side", rather than the original developer having anything/much to do with it... You don't need Photoshop in the same way that you need a particular game. There's only one piece of software that provides the (e.g.) Death Stranding (strandlike) experience. There's any number of tools you can use to do most of your favourite Photoshop usecases.
- OccamsMirror 2y ago
  Conversely, Photoshop and Illustrator support is often the reason someone maintains for not moving to Linux. I would bet there's a lot of Mac users who would otherwise be Linux users if not for that lack of support, and instead went to Mac. It's the only way to have comfortable Adobe support outside of Windows.
  - qwery 2y ago
    I'm not making an argument about the general or specific worth of Adobe software/support.
  - michaelmrose 2y ago
    Only a small percentage of the PC user base uses Photoshop. Its visibility in this sort of discussion is all out of proportion to actual utility. This is especially true once you snip out the number who use pirated Photoshop exclusively to do simple operations like cropping and resizing. Want to have more users work on the stuff that matters to 99% of users instead of nurturing a hope that people might give up their Macs.
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      For some it's Photoshop, for others its Solidworks, for others it's some other niche software like maybe driving an industrial machine. The niche market is very long tail.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]

threatripper 2y ago

I suspect a co-evolution in games is at play. In a way that the game developers are nudged by Steam to prefer using compatible features and Steam works together with game engine developers.

DaoVeles 2y ago
Absolutely. Nowadays it feels like the best development tools for Linux is the Win32 tool chain. No need for native ports if proton can be the glue between the systems.
MindSpunk 2y ago
It’s just that games are easier to run on wine because they touch a comparatively small portion of the Windows API. Windowing, controller input, file system, networking, audio and directx covers the overwhelming majority of Windows API endpoints that need to be translated by wine. Their interaction with these APIs is relatively simple, open a window, read a few files, open a udp socket. Directx is hard, but the tools have gotten scary good lately (dxvk, vkd3d-proton). Compared to a complex tool like Photoshop which will be touching many more system APIs that need to behave correctly (file locking, codecs, COM). Arguably a Windows PE executable using Vulkan and run in Proton is a better way to ship a game to run on Linux than building a native Linux executable. It’s actually more portable because the Windows API and environment is more stable and consistent than some arbitrary Linux user space. No glibc versioning BS or dynamic linker path BS or any other number of strange things users can do. Just stable Win32. Valve actually recommends this over a native Linux build currently.
- thriftwy 2y ago
  I don't buy Photoshop as a heavy exotic APIs user. In many ways it's about pure computations involving images represented as data structures. Perhaps there used to be some USB to talk to cameras but that's it. I believe their Mac version has no COM so why Windows version has to rely on it? I wonder why Adobe does not make some effort to support Wine, such as testing for this platform.
  - Wowfunhappy 2y ago
    > I don't buy Photoshop as a heavy exotic APIs user. Based on TFA, it sounds like Photoshop works fine in Wine. It's the Creative Cloud app that has issues.

qwery 2y ago

Assuming that there is a difference and it's on the "wine side", rather than the original developer having anything/much to do with it... You don't need Photoshop in the same way that you need a particular game. There's only one piece of software that provides the (e.g.) Death Stranding (strandlike) experience. There's any number of tools you can use to do most of your favourite Photoshop usecases.

OccamsMirror 2y ago
Conversely, Photoshop and Illustrator support is often the reason someone maintains for not moving to Linux. I would bet there's a lot of Mac users who would otherwise be Linux users if not for that lack of support, and instead went to Mac. It's the only way to have comfortable Adobe support outside of Windows.
- qwery 2y ago
  I'm not making an argument about the general or specific worth of Adobe software/support.
- michaelmrose 2y ago
  Only a small percentage of the PC user base uses Photoshop. Its visibility in this sort of discussion is all out of proportion to actual utility. This is especially true once you snip out the number who use pirated Photoshop exclusively to do simple operations like cropping and resizing. Want to have more users work on the stuff that matters to 99% of users instead of nurturing a hope that people might give up their Macs.
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    For some it's Photoshop, for others its Solidworks, for others it's some other niche software like maybe driving an industrial machine. The niche market is very long tail.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]