umu(1)

📦
version 1.4.4 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 umu(1) — the umu-run page, but make it make sense 💅

okay bestie, welcome to umu(1), from the General Commands Manual section. this is the whole entire lore drop on umu-run, and i promise it's gonna be iconic. grab a strawberry drink 🍓 and let's go.

✨ NAME ✨

umu-run — the Unified Launcher for Windows Games on Linux. say that three times fast, i dare you. 🫶

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

like, here's every way you can hit it:

umu-run [FILE]
umu-run [FILE [ARG...]]
umu-run [winetricks [ARG...]]
umu-run --config [FILE]
umu-run --help

🎀 POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • winetricks — runs winetricks[1] verbs. lowkey important: this requires GE-Proton or UMU-Proton, no cap. peep winetricks(1) for the full tea, or scroll down for an example. 💅

⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

  • -h, --help — shows this help message. the "help me help you" of flags. 🙈
  • --config <config> — path to a TOML configuration file. heads up: this requires Python 3.11+. 🐍 see umu(5) for the details and examples, iykyk.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so. the Unified Launcher for Windows Games on Linux (everyone calls it umu, we're on a nickname basis) was literally created so that Valve's Proton[2] and the protonfixes[3] project could be accessible outside the Steam client. it gives other clients (think Lutris, Heroic Games Launcher, Bottles, or Rare) a standardized way to run games via Proton and configure WINE prefixes. it's giving main character energy for real.

as a result, clients:

  • no longer require Steam or Steam binaries to be installed 👋
  • can contribute to protonfixes and automatically benefit from them 🫶
  • can run games through Proton as if it were a native Steam game 🎮
  • can reference a unified online database of game fixes (protonfixes) 🗂️

you can run umu directly from a terminal emulator, or through your launcher of choice if it supports it. either way, slay. ✨

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Example 1. Run a game

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine PROTONPATH=~/GE-Proton9-4 umu-run foo.exe

Example 2. Run a game and apply a specific protonfix

# Applies the Star Citizen fix to the current WINE prefix
$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine GAMEID=umu-starcitizen PROTONPATH=~/GE-Proton9-4 umu-run foo.exe

Example 3. Run a game via a configuration file

# config.toml
[umu]
prefix = "~/.wine"
proton = "~/GE-Proton30"
game_id = "0"
exe = "~/foo.exe"
launch_args = ["-opengl", "-SkipBuildPatchPrereq"]
store = "gog"
$ umu-run --config config.toml

Example 4. Create a umu WINE prefix

$ WINEPREFIX=~/foo PROTONPATH=~/GE-Proton9-4 umu-run ""

Example 5. Run a game and automatically set Proton

# Uses the latest UMU-Proton and automatically removes old UMU-Proton builds
$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine umu-run foo.exe

Example 6. Run a game, automatically set Proton, and create a WINE prefix

# Creates the prefix as $HOME/Games/umu/umu-default and uses the latest UMU-Proton
$ umu-run foo.exe

Example 7. Run a game and explicitly set a valid Proton verb

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine GAMEID=0 PROTONPATH=~/GE-Proton9-4 PROTON_VERB=waitforexitandrun umu-run foo.exe

Example 8. Run a game and enable debug logs

$ UMU_LOG=debug WINEPREFIX=~/.wine PROTONPATH=~/GE-Proton9-4 umu-run foo.exe

Example 9. Run a game and set a Proton by its version name

# Checks for GE-Proton9-1 at $HOME/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d
$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine PROTONPATH=GE-Proton9-1 umu-run foo.exe

Example 10. Run a game and automatically use the latest GE-Proton

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine PROTONPATH=GE-Proton umu-run foo.exe

Example 11. Run winetricks verbs

$ PROTONPATH=GE-Proton umu-run winetricks quartz wmp11 qasf

Example 12. Run a game, but do not apply protonfixes

$ GAMEID=umu-genshin PROTONPATH=GE-Proton PROTONFIXES_DISABLE=1 umu-run foo.exe

🦋 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🦋

  • GAMEID — optional, bestie. can be an arbitrary value or a valid id in the umu-database[4]. if it's unset, it defaults to umu-default (and that means it does not apply any fixes automatically). 🫥
  • PROTONPATH — optional. path to a Proton directory, a version name (e.g., GE-Proton9-5), or a codename (e.g., GE-Proton). otherwise it defaults to using UMU-Proton. valid codenames include: GE-Proton. 👑
  • WINEPREFIX — optional. path to a WINE prefix directory. otherwise it defaults to $HOME/Games/umu/$GAMEID. and if no GAMEID is set, it defaults to $HOME/Games/umu/umu-default. 🏠
  • UMU_LOG — optional. enables debug logs for the launcher. set 1 to enable all logs. 🔍
  • STORE — optional. can be an arbitrary value or a valid store id in the umu-database. 🛍️
  • PROTON_VERB — optional. must be a valid Proton verb. otherwise it defaults to waitforexitandrun. 🏃
  • UMU_RUNTIME_UPDATE — optional. disables automatic updates to the Steam Linux Runtime[5]. set 0 to disable updates. ⏸️
  • UMU_NO_PROTON — optional. runs the executable natively within the Steam Linux Runtime. intended for native Linux games. set 1 to run the executable natively within the SLR. 🐧
  • UMU_HTTP_TIMEOUT — optional. sets the timeout, in seconds, for each HTTP request. otherwise defaults to 5. set 0 to disable timeouts for HTTP requests. set a positive integer to override the default. ⏱️
  • UMU_HTTP_RETRIES — optional. number of times to retry possibly spurious network errors. otherwise defaults to 3. set 0 to disable retries for HTTP requests. set a positive integer to override the default. 🔁

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

umu(5), winetricks(1) — go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate. 💜

📝 NOTES 📝

  1. https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks
  2. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton
  3. https://github.com/Open-Wine-Components/umu-protonfixes
  4. https://github.com/Open-Wine-Components/umu-database
  5. https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt/steam-runtime-tools/-/blob/main/docs/container-runtime.md

👑 AUTHORS 👑

maintained by Open Wine Components members, and assisted by other open source contributors. for more information about umu development, see https://github.com/Open-Wine-Components/umu-launcher. they're the real MVPs fr fr. 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie!! 💖 this was umu(1), dated 1980-01-02 — yeah that date is a whole throwback, don't ask 😭 — and you can find it in the umu(1) manual section. now go run some games, you've got this. periodt. 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from