How to fix Stardew Valley connecting infinitely to online services on Linux

If you play the native Linux build of Stardew Valley and multiplayer is stuck on "Connecting to online services...", the issue is a security incompatibility in newer versions of glibc (version 2.41 and later).

This issue affects modern distributions such as Arch Linux, CachyOS, Fedora, Manjaro, and recent SteamOS updates.

Why does this happen?

The native Linux version of Stardew Valley ships with two GOG Galaxy SDK libraries to handle multiplayer networking:

• libGalaxy64.so
• libGalaxyCSharpGlue.so

These older libraries were compiled requiring an executable stack in memory. Because modern distributions strictly block this for security reasons, the game fails to initialize the networking bridge and loops indefinitely.

The Fix: Patch the game libraries with patchelf

The solution is to clear the executable stack requirement directly from the game binaries:

1. Install patchelf

• Arch Linux / CachyOS / Manjaro:

  bash
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  sudo pacman -S patchelf

• Fedora:

  bash
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  sudo dnf install patchelf

• Ubuntu / Debian:

  bash
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  sudo apt install patchelf

2. Patch the game libraries

Open your terminal and run:

bash
Copy
cd ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Stardew\ Valley
patchelf --clear-execstack libGalaxy64.so libGalaxyCSharpGlue.so

Launch the game on Steam. Multiplayer will now connect normally.