"The package is of bad quality" error message

[TrevorFSmith]

I downloaded the steam_latest.deb from http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb to my Ubuntu 12.10 machine and opened it in the Ubuntu Software Center via Nautilus. Then I clicked the big "Install" button.

I received an error dialog (image attached) which reads:

"The installation of a package which violates the quality standards isn't allowed. This could cause serious problems on your computer. Please contact the person or organisation who provided this package file and include the details beneath."

In the details sections it reads:

"Lintian check results for /home/trevor/Desktop/steam_latest.deb:
E: steam: malformed-deb-archive found 4 members instead of 3
"

This is on a 2011 13" MacBook Pro.

[TrevorFSmith]

I went ahead and installed despite the error and the install appeared to complete with no further errors. Here is my system information, as reported by the Steam client:

Operating System Version:
Ubuntu 12.10 (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 3.5.0-18-generic
X Server vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server release: 11300000

Video Card:
Driver: Intel Open Source Technology Center Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2

Driver Version:  3.0 Mesa 9.0
Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
VendorID:  0x8086
DeviceID:  0x126
Number of Monitors:  1
Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
Primary Display Resolution:  1280 x 800
Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 800
Primary Display Size: 11.26" x 7.05"  (13.27" diag)
                                        28.6cm x 17.9cm  (33.7cm diag)
Primary VRAM Not Detected

Sound card:
Audio device: Intel CougarPoint HDMI

Memory:
RAM: 3865 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
Microphone: Not set
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 476777 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 63828 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:

[muraiki]

I am getting the same error. I'm on Ubuntu 12.10, 64-bit. Because of the package quality warning I'm hesitant to proceed with installing it. I'm on kernel 3.5.0-21-generic, with an AMD Athlon II x4 2.9Ghz processor and 4GB of ram. I have a Radeon HD 5670 and an EMU 404 USB soundcard.

[joseph-d]

I am getting the same "Bad Quality" error on Ubuntu 12.04 (x64) but with different details in the description:

Lintian check results for /home/user/Downloads/steam_latest.deb: Use of uninitialized value $ENV{"HOME"} in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/lintian line 108. E: steam: malformed-deb-archive found 4 members instead of 3

I didn't proceed with the installation so I can't provide the "System Information" from the Steam client.

[shayosler]

Like TrevorFSmith I installed despite the error and the install appears to have worked. My system information is:
Processor Information:
Vendor: GenuineIntel
Speed: 2534 Mhz
2 logical processors
2 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Unsupported

Network Information:
Network Speed:

Operating System Version:
Ubuntu 12.10 (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 3.5.0-19-generic
X Server vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Server release: 11300000

Video Card:
Driver: X.Org Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV635

Driver Version:  2.1 Mesa 9.0
Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
VendorID:  0x1002
DeviceID:  0x9591
Number of Monitors:  1
Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
Primary Display Resolution:  1680 x 1050
Desktop Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Primary Display Size: 13.03" x 8.15"  (15.35" diag)
                                        33.1cm x 20.7cm  (39.0cm diag)
Primary VRAM Not Detected

Sound card:
Audio device: Conexant CX20561 (Hermosa)

Memory:
RAM: 3884 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
Microphone: Not set
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 125369 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 54565 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:

[klangner]

Same here on Ubuntu 12.10.
I'm waiting for the correct package.

[VolodymyrBaydalka]

Same issue.
HP probook 4530s with Ubuntu 12.10 64bit

[zyga]

Without adding useless "same issue" comment I'd like to say that the actual error seems to be caused by the fourth member of the .deb file (as displayed with "ar t steam*.deb"). Perhaps valve could just remove that from the archive and, if needed, put it in debian.tar.gz instead.

[blegat]

Well I've got the same error with 12.04.
It seems that for 12.04, people (joseph-d, bartart3d #77, blegat) get

Lintian check results for /home/user/Downloads/steam_latest.deb:
Use of uninitialized value $ENV{"HOME"} in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/lintian line 108.
E: steam: malformed-deb-archive found 4 members instead of 3

And for 12.10, people (TrevorFSmith, brierjon #61, Boerny #93) get

Lintian check results for /home/user/Downloads/steam_latest.deb:
E: steam: malformed-deb-archive found 4 members instead of 3

[blegat]

It can be reproduced on the CLI (12.04)

$ lintian steam_latest.deb
W: steam: debian-changelog-line-too-long line 1
W: steam: debian-changelog-line-too-long line 2
W: steam: copyright-without-copyright-notice
E: steam: malformed-deb-archive found 4 members instead of 3
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
E: steam: description-contains-tabs
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long
W: steam: extended-description-line-too-long

But the following error is gone while still in 12.04

Use of uninitialized value $ENV{"HOME"} in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/lintian line 108.

[mkgessen]

steam_latest.deb says that it's designed for x86. So it tries to install 32-bit packages on 64-bit systems. The required packages overlap x64 packages with the same name. So the system doesn't want to install them.

$dpkg-deb --info steam_latest.deb

Package: steam
Version: 1.0.0.17
Architecture: i386 <---- the problem
Maintainer: Valve Software LLC [email protected]
Installed-Size: 323836
Depends: libcurl3-gnutls (>= 7.16.2-1), libgl1-mesa-dri, libgl1-mesa-glx, libjpeg-turbo8, libogg0 (>= 1.0rc3), libpixman-1-0 (>= 0.24.4-1), libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libtheora0 (>= 1.0~beta1), libvorbis0a (>= 1.1.2), libvorbisenc2 (>= 1.1.2), libvorbisfile3 (>= 1.1.2), multiarch-support (>= 2.15-0ubuntu10.2), zenity (>= 3.4.0-0ubuntu4), libasound2 (>= 1.0.23), libc6 (>= 2.15), libcairo2 (>= 1.6.0), libcups2 (>= 1.4.0), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.2.14), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.8.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.3.9), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libgcrypt11 (>= 1.4.5), libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.14.0), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.24.0), libnspr4 (>= 1.8.0.10), libnss3 (>= 3.12.3), libopenal1 (>= 1:1.13), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.22.0), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libpulse0 (>= 1:0.99.1), libstdc++6 (>= 4.6), libx11-6 (>= 2:1.4.99.1), libxext6, libxfixes3, libxi6 (>= 2:1.2.99.4), libxrandr2 (>= 2:1.2.99.3), libxrender1, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg)

[johnv-valve]

We just pushed out a new .deb that fixes this problem. It will only show up if you have lintian installed (and it's harmless to ignore)

[TrevorFSmith]

Thank you!

[blegat]

That fixes it, thank you :)