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The floor that matters is the DESKTOP, not the package: 24.04 installs punktfunk-host and then has no compositor over the version floors and no gamescope, which reads as a bug rather than an unsupported base. The requirements page now leads with a per-release table separating 'package installs' from 'can actually host', and install.md carries the same caveat next to the apt row. Debian was already a supported target after the previous commits but was still invisible at the entry points — README's install table, the docs index cards, and the 'what you need' list all said Ubuntu only. All three now name Debian and carry the version floor.
149 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
149 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Requirements
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description: What you need to run a Punktfunk host — GPU, driver, desktop, and network.
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---
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## Supported setups
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A Punktfunk host runs primarily on a Linux machine with a dedicated GPU — NVIDIA (NVENC) is the
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most-exercised path, and AMD/Intel GPUs work via Vulkan Video or VAAPI. A native [Windows host](/docs/windows-host)
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is also available. Setup splits along two axes: you **install** the package per distro, then
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**configure** the host — and learn its quirks — per desktop/compositor.
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> New here? Read [Security & Safe Use](/docs/security) first — a streaming host is remote control of
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> the machine, so keep it on a trusted LAN or VPN and require pairing.
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## The floor for a working host
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**On apt distros that means Ubuntu 26.04 or newer, or Debian 13 or newer.** Both are supported
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targets and both install from the same repository.
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This floor is about the **desktop**, not the package. A host needs a compositor that can create a
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virtual display, and those have version floors of their own ([below](#desktop-session)). Older
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releases will happily install `punktfunk-host` and then have nothing that can produce a stream —
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so read this as the real requirement, not the package's:
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| Release | Package installs | Can actually host |
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|---|---|---|
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| **Ubuntu 26.04+** | ✅ | ✅ KWin 6.5+, GNOME 48+, gamescope |
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| **Debian 13+** | ✅ | ✅ GNOME 48.7, sway 1.10, gamescope (its KWin 6.3.6 is below the floor) |
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| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | ✅ | ❌ KWin 5.27 (floor 6.5.6), GNOME 46 (floor 48), no gamescope available |
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| Debian 12 | ❌ glibc 2.36 | ❌ |
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Ubuntu 24.04 is called out because the package *does* install there — it is built on 24.04 precisely
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so one package spans the range — which makes the gap easy to mistake for a bug. It is not: 24.04
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ships no compositor new enough, and no `gamescope` (the patched
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[`punktfunk-gamescope`](/docs/gamescope) cannot run there either — 24.04 is too old on wayland,
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libinput, libavif and pixman). The same gap is why
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[Linux Mint 22.x cannot host](/docs/debian#linux-mint-22x-cannot-host-yet).
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**Distros — install the package:**
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- [Ubuntu](/docs/ubuntu) — 26.04 or newer for a working host
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- [Debian](/docs/debian) — 13 or newer, including LMDE
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- [Fedora](/docs/fedora)
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- [Arch](/docs/arch)
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- [Bazzite](/docs/bazzite)
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- [SteamOS](/docs/steamos-host)
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**Desktops — configure and quirks:**
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- [KDE Plasma (KWin)](/docs/kde)
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- [GNOME (Mutter)](/docs/gnome)
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- [Steam / gamescope](/docs/gamescope)
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- [Hyprland](/docs/hyprland)
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- [Sway / wlroots](/docs/sway)
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Pick your distro to install, then your desktop to configure — the two are independent. The host
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needs one of these compositor backends to create a virtual display.
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Support is deliberately non-uniform: each compositor and each GPU vendor gets its own capture,
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display and input backend, and they are not equally capable. The [Support
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matrix](/docs/support-matrix) has a row for every host desktop, GPU and client app, with each cell
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taken from the code that makes the decision — read it before assuming a feature is available on your
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combination.
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> **Windows host:** Punktfunk also runs as a native host on **Windows 11 22H2 or newer (x64)** — a
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> signed installer that registers a service and bundles a virtual-display driver whose driver
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> framework (IddCx 1.10) makes 22H2 the hard floor — Windows 10 is not supported. It encodes on NVIDIA
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> (NVENC), AMD (AMF), or Intel (QSV), with a software fallback, and is newer than the Linux host; see
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> [Windows Host](/docs/windows-host).
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## GPU and driver
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- **An NVIDIA GPU** with NVENC — effectively any GeForce RTX or workstation card. NVENC is what
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encodes the video in hardware.
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- **NVIDIA driver 535 or newer** (550+ recommended). The driver must include the **GL/EGL userspace**,
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not just `nvidia-utils` — without it the compositor can't initialise the GPU and capture fails. Each
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install guide installs the right package (e.g. `libnvidia-gl-<version>` on Ubuntu).
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- **`nvidia-drm modeset=1`** must be enabled (Wayland on NVIDIA needs it). The install guides cover this.
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- **AMD / Intel GPUs** encode without any of the NVIDIA pieces above. For **HEVC and AV1** the host
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goes through **Vulkan Video** by default, so you want an up-to-date Mesa and the matching Vulkan
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driver — `mesa-vulkan-drivers` on Ubuntu, `vulkan-radeon` / `vulkan-intel` on Arch.
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**VAAPI** (`mesa-va-drivers` or `intel-media-driver`) is the H.264 path and the fallback for
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everything else: a machine with only the VAAPI driver still streams, it just gives up the Vulkan
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path's cleaner recovery from packet loss. `PUNKTFUNK_VULKAN_ENCODE=0` pins VAAPI. Validated live
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on AMD RDNA3. On modern Intel (Gen12/Tiger Lake and newer, including Arc) the VAAPI driver only
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offers the **low-power (VDEnc)** encode entrypoint — the host detects this and falls back automatically
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(`PUNKTFUNK_VAAPI_LOW_POWER=1|0` pins it) — and low-power encode needs the **HuC firmware**
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loaded (the kernel default on those platforms; check `dmesg | grep -i huc` if encoding fails).
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A GPU-less software H.264 encoder also exists (`PUNKTFUNK_ENCODER=software`), meant as a
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fallback rather than a daily driver.
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> Consumer GeForce cards historically cap the number of **concurrent** NVENC sessions (a few at once);
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> workstation cards don't. This only matters if you stream to many devices simultaneously.
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### HDR and 10-bit
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HDR (10-bit BT.2020 PQ) is on by default, and what a Linux box needs for it is a **gamescope**
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session running the patched `punktfunk-gamescope` build, or **GNOME 50 or newer** mirroring a real
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HDR monitor on the GameStream plane — the ordinary KWin, Mutter and wlroots virtual displays are
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8-bit upstream and stream SDR. [HDR](/docs/hdr) has the full chain, per host and per client, and how
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to find the link that is missing.
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## Desktop session
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The host attaches to a **Wayland** desktop session and creates virtual displays in it, so either a
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session is running for the user the host runs as, or the host brings one up itself. This can be:
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- a **normal logged-in desktop** (you're sitting at the machine, or it auto-logs-in),
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- a **headless session** that comes up at boot with no monitor or login — see
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[Running as a Service](/docs/running-as-a-service), or
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- **no session at all** — on the **gamescope** backend the host spawns its own headless gamescope
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per client connect (on a Steam appliance it can bring up the whole Steam session), so nothing has
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to be running beforehand. Auto-detection reads the *live* session, so on a box that boots to
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nothing, set `PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR=gamescope` in `host.env` — with a gamescope session already
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running the host finds it by itself. See [Steam / gamescope](/docs/gamescope).
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Minimum compositor versions (newer is fine):
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- **KWin ≥ 6.5.6** ([KDE Plasma](/docs/kde)) — headless virtual outputs.
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- **GNOME ≥ 48** ([Mutter](/docs/gnome)) — virtual-monitor screen-cast.
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- **gamescope ≥ 3.16.22** ([Bazzite/Steam](/docs/gamescope)) — below this, headless capture
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deadlocks against PipeWire ≥ 1.6.
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- **gamescope ≥ 3.16.23** for the Steam overlay (Shift+Tab / Quick Access Menu) to reach the stream
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at all — older builds never paint it into the node the host captures, so no host setting can bring
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it back.
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For **HDR** on gamescope you additionally need the patched `punktfunk-gamescope` build — see
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[HDR and 10-bit](#hdr-and-10-bit) above.
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The same floors, with what each one gates, are in [Version floors worth
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knowing](/docs/support-matrix#version-floors-worth-knowing); where the two disagree, the matrix is
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the one checked against the code.
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## Network
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- Host and client on the **same network** — a LAN, or a VPN that puts them on one subnet. Punktfunk
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assumes a trusted local network; it's **not built to be exposed to the public internet — don't
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port-forward it.** To stream from outside your home, use a VPN so the remote client is on the same
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private subnet.
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- For best results, a wired or fast Wi-Fi link. The host can run a built-in **speed test** to pick a
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bitrate for your link (see [Configuration](/docs/configuration)).
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## A client
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You also need something to stream *to* — see [Connect a Client](/docs/clients). There are native
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Punktfunk clients for **Apple (macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS), Linux, Windows, and Android**, and any
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Moonlight client works too. All of them can discover the host on your network automatically.
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