fix(console): make a failed Steam session diagnosable, add shortcut tooling
Autologin into the gamescope Steam session does not take on the real hardware; the television lands on ReGreet instead. The config side is correct -- initial_session is present in the generated greetd.toml and services.greetd.restart evaluates to false -- so the likely cause is the session starting and then dying, which greetd answers by falling through to default_session. greetd hands a session the VT for its standard streams, so whatever the session prints on its way down is erased as soon as the greeter repaints. Run the launcher under systemd-cat so the reason survives in the journal under the steam-session identifier. Steam's non-Steam-game Browse dialog and its library-folder picker both go through the XDG portal FileChooser interface and do not open here (ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#9447, #10415). Add steamtinkerlaunch, which writes shortcuts.vdf without the dialog, and document library_folder_add as the equivalent route for the library folder. Docs also catch up with the host's actual state: hardware-configuration .nix is a real scan now, standalone pcsx2 is installed, and the untested claims become the list of open problems. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Emma Thorpe
co-authored by
Claude Opus 5
Claude Opus 5
parent
db0867ecc7
commit
f35cc58bbb
+100
-32
@@ -9,17 +9,12 @@ A 4th-generation Core i7 (Haswell) on a UEFI board with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX
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is driven from the sofa with a Bluetooth controller; keyboard and mouse are
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supported but secondary.
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## Not installed yet
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## Disk
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`hardware-configuration.nix` in this host directory is a **placeholder**, not a
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hardware scan. It exists so the flake evaluates in CI and assumes the install
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labels its partitions `nixos` (root, ext4) and `BOOT` (ESP, vfat). Replace the
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whole file with the output of `nixos-generate-config` run on the machine and
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commit that. If the labels do not match, the boot fails on a missing device
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rather than touching the wrong disk.
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Partition the disk GPT with an ESP (vfat, 512 MB is comfortable). Nothing else
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in the host config depends on the disk layout.
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`hardware-configuration.nix` is a real `nixos-generate-config` scan from the
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installed machine: GPT with a vfat ESP at `/boot` and an ext4 root, both
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addressed by UUID, and no swap device. Nothing else in the host config depends
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on the disk layout.
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## Bootloader
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@@ -88,7 +83,7 @@ to ReGreet, where the ordinary Sway session is available for everything else.
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`services.greetd.restart` defaults to `false` once `initial_session` is set,
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which is what stops a logout looping straight back into autologin.
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Two details worth knowing:
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Three details worth knowing:
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- The launcher is referenced as `/run/current-system/sw/bin/steam-gamescope`.
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The steam module builds that script privately and only adds it to
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@@ -96,17 +91,73 @@ Two details worth knowing:
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- `programs.gamescope.capSysNice = true` installs gamescope as a setcap wrapper
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in `/run/wrappers/bin` instead of the system profile. That path precedes the
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system profile on `PATH`, so `steam-gamescope` still resolves it.
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- greetd gives the session the VT for its standard streams, so anything the
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Steam session prints as it dies is erased the moment the greeter repaints.
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`initial_session` therefore runs the launcher under `systemd-cat`, and the
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output is readable after the fact with `journalctl -b -t steam-session`.
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### When the television lands on ReGreet instead of Steam
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greetd starts `initial_session` **once per boot** — the check is the presence of
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`/run/greetd.run` — and if the session process starts and then exits, greetd
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falls through to `default_session`, i.e. ReGreet. A gamescope that dies on
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startup is therefore indistinguishable from autologin never having run, unless
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the logs are read:
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```sh
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journalctl -b -t steam-session # what the session itself said
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journalctl -b -u greetd # whether greetd started it at all
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ls -l /run/greetd.run # exists => greetd has already had its one go
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```
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If greetd never even reaches the session, it prints `unable to start greeter`
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and **exits** — there is no greeter to fall back to and the screen stays blank.
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Recover over SSH (`modules/ssh.nix`), or hold space at power-on and boot the
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previous generation.
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To reproduce a session failure by hand, switch to a free VT and run
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`steam-gamescope` there. Running it from inside Sway is not the same test:
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gamescope picks its nested Wayland backend when `WAYLAND_DISPLAY` is set, and it
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is the DRM backend — the one the boot session uses — that is in question.
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The greeter is **Dvorak**, like every other host here (`modules/sway.nix` forces
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`XKB_DEFAULT_VARIANT=dvorak` on cage). Only relevant if someone else has to type
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a password.
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### Adding RetroArch and Clone Hero to Big Picture
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### Adding RetroArch, PCSX2 and Clone Hero to Big Picture
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Both are installed system-wide but are not Steam titles. Add each once, from a
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Sway session, via Steam's **Games → Add a Non-Steam Game**; they then appear in
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Big Picture and inherit Steam Input, so the controller works in them without
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further configuration.
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All three are installed system-wide but are not Steam titles. Added as Steam
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shortcuts they appear in Big Picture and inherit Steam Input, so the controller
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works in them without further configuration.
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Steam's own **Games → Add a Non-Steam Game** is the documented route and is also
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the one that tends not to work. Both that dialog's **Browse** button and the
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library-folder picker below go through the XDG desktop portal `FileChooser`
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interface; when the portal is unreachable the client silently falls back to a
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legacy chooser that is blank or inert — Valve
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[#9447](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9447) and
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[#10415](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/10415), neither
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fixed. Check the portal side before blaming the client:
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```sh
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busctl --user introspect org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop \
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/org/freedesktop/portal/desktop | grep FileChooser
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```
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`modules/sway.nix` enables `xdg-desktop-portal-gtk`, which is the backend that
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implements `FileChooser` (`xdg-desktop-portal-wlr` implements only screenshot
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and screencast), and the generated `sway-portals.conf` routes everything but
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those two to `gtk`. If the interface is missing from the introspection above,
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the backend is not running and that is the fault to chase.
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Independent of the dialog, `steamtinkerlaunch` writes `shortcuts.vdf` directly:
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```sh
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# Steam must be closed -- it rewrites shortcuts.vdf on exit.
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steamtinkerlaunch addnonsteamgame -an="RetroArch" -ep="$(command -v retroarch)"
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steamtinkerlaunch addnonsteamgame -an="PCSX2" -ep="$(command -v pcsx2-qt)"
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steamtinkerlaunch addnonsteamgame -an="Clone Hero" -ep="$(command -v clonehero)"
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```
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## Emulation — RetroArch
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@@ -167,13 +218,12 @@ system directory on this host:
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Be honest about the two heaviest cores. `dolphin` and `pcsx2` are libretro ports
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of emulators whose upstream effort goes into their **standalone** builds; the
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cores lag on compatibility and are the first place to look when a GameCube, Wii
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or PS2 title misbehaves. If a game does not cooperate, add the standalone
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emulators to `environment.systemPackages` in `gaming.nix`:
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or PS2 title misbehaves.
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```nix
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pkgs.dolphin-emu # GameCube / Wii
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pkgs.pcsx2 # PlayStation 2
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```
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That has already happened for PS2: the LRPS2 core was not good enough in
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practice, so **standalone `pkgs.pcsx2` is installed** in `gaming.nix` alongside
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the core and is what PS2 titles should be run through. `pkgs.dolphin-emu` is not
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installed; add it the same way if GameCube or Wii turns out to need it.
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Both are controller-driven and can be added to Big Picture the same way as
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RetroArch. The hardware is not the limit here — a GTX 1070 and a Haswell i7 run
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@@ -226,7 +276,19 @@ RetroArch is pointed at these paths declaratively. The other two have to be told
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once, in their own UIs:
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- **Steam** — Settings → Storage → the `+` control → add `/srv/games/steam` as a
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library folder. Games installed there survive a reinstall of the OS.
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library folder. Games installed there survive a reinstall of the OS. That
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picker is the broken one described under
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[Adding RetroArch, PCSX2 and Clone Hero to Big Picture](#adding-retroarch-pcsx2-and-clone-hero-to-big-picture);
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when it comes up blank, use Steam's own console instead — open Steam with
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`steam -console`, pick the **CONSOLE** tab and run:
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```
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library_folder_add /srv/games/steam
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```
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The directory must already exist and be writable by the user Steam runs as,
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which `systemd.tmpfiles` guarantees. The command does not create it.
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- **Clone Hero** — set the song library path to `/srv/games/clonehero/songs` from
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its settings screen. Clone Hero keeps its own config in `~/.clonehero`.
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@@ -311,17 +373,23 @@ wired 360 pads — as well as `mt76x2u`, and pulls in proprietary dongle firmwar
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Not worth the side effects unless that dongle is actually in use, and if it ever
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is, the 360 pads have to be re-tested.
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## Untested claims
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## Open problems
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This host has not been built or booted yet. Two things are worth watching on
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first boot:
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The machine is installed and Sway works. Still outstanding:
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- **gamescope on the proprietary NVIDIA driver.** `gaming.nix` sets
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`GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm` and `__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia` for the
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session, which is the standard fix, but the combination has a history of
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needing tweaks. If the session dies at startup, switch the greeter back to
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interactive by commenting out `services.greetd.settings.initial_session`, log
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into Sway, and read `journalctl --user -b`.
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- **Autologin into Steam does not happen** — the television comes up on ReGreet.
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Not yet root-caused; the config side is correct (`initial_session` is present
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in the generated `greetd.toml` and `services.greetd.restart` evaluates to
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`false`), so the suspicion is that gamescope starts and dies on the
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proprietary NVIDIA driver, which greetd treats as a finished session and
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answers by starting the greeter. `gaming.nix` sets `GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm`
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and `__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia`, the standard fix, but the combination
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has a history of needing more. Read `journalctl -b -t steam-session` first —
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see [When the television lands on ReGreet instead of Steam](#when-the-television-lands-on-regreet-instead-of-steam).
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- **Steam's file pickers do not open** — both the non-Steam-game **Browse**
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dialog and the library-folder picker. Upstream client bugs with usable
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workarounds; see the two sections above.
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- **Boot into Big Picture has not been exercised**, since autologin has not run.
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- **Television resolution and refresh.** gamescope takes the output's native
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mode by default. Add `gamescopeSession.args = [ "-W" "3840" "-H" "2160" "-r"
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"60" ]` if a specific mode is wanted.
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