So it's been 4 days, and still nothing.

PC version is updated, Mac version is updated, Steam versions are updated (including Linux), this is getting ridiculous.

SMAPI keeps pestering me that there is a new version of it, and of several mods, but guess what, those need 1.5.3.
Luckily I don't play multiplayer, or that would be broken as well.

Please?

As I'm playing with a friend who uses Windows, my workaround so far is to run the Windows version under wine until the Linux installer comes out, then I'll copy the savefiles back to the Linux install.

I play vanilla, though, so it's not much of a hassle. I imagine that mods complicate things a little.

GOG's Linux support has been appalling for as long as I can remember. Since the Wticher 2 Linux port fiasco, CDP basically ignores Linux users. Why they even bother providing Linux installers anymore is a mystery to me. Either support it fully (to the best of your ability) or drop the official support, don't half ass it.

Lately, wine, Lutris and, ironically, Steam (through Proton) have done more for DRM-free gaming than GOG.

Steam and DRM-free ... well, if you say so. The whole point why I am here on GOG and not on Steam is precisely because Steam isn't really DRM-free, I mean, at all.
I'm not familiar with what went wrong with the Linux port of Witcher 2. But I agree that it often goes the wrong way. Steam has had a few good developers as far as I can tell. There were a few speeches from the Steam Dev Days on Youtube which showed how a Linux port is done properly and how Linux support should go.

I wouldn't be so harsh. If they provide a Linux port it usually works. For me anyway. I mean, I don't really like the strange installers GOG provide: Mojo-scripts with an archive embedded. Not my thing and it also completely breaks with the file system standard (I wonder why that exists...), which drives me up the wall. They do installers for Linux as if Linux was Windows 95. It's terrible, I agree. They treat Linux as if it was a toy-operating system, single user only, install software wherever, basically a DOS for snobs, right, afterall Linux only has a command-line. We all know that.
At the same time I can't help to notice that people who want to run casual games have been buying Apple iMacs and the likes, which makes no sense to me. Most of the gaming and computing is still Windows-based, we can't ignore that. That is one reason that Linux support has always been slow. I at least think it has picked up in recent years, but it is still lagging.

As for GOG: I'd prefer to have the tarballs back as it was in the beginning. At least they gave me an easy option to store the games into the /opt folder where they belong. GOG if you read that: Give us the tarballs back! They were just better.

Wine is just a toy. It has always been unreliable, unstable and crashy. It crashed on me twice trying (and failing) to run Anno 1602 A.D. (the first game in the series) and took the whole operating system with it into the abyss. That's just one example. Wine is a no for me. I'd rather run Windows than Wine. The only exception to that is when I need to run a piece of 16-bit Windows-software. Then I don't have any choice short of installing an older version of Windows into a VM.

Edit: corrections for typos

But the main grievance of this thread remains: There still isn't any 1.5.3 for Linux.

GOG if you read this: What's the wait? Where is version 1.5.3 for Linux? I don't understand what the delay is. We payed for the game, too, you know. I sent a message to GOG support about this. Next step will be to send a message to the developer. Let's see what he has to say about that, right.

Give us the GNU/Linux installer for 1.5.3 before the weekend, please. :D

I understand that it takes extra work to port it to additional platforms, but it would be nice to know that it is currently in the works, or that its status is pending, instead of being left without any notification. Maybe that could serve as an idea for a feature for the GOG website?

I only switched a couple of months ago and I'm using whatever gets the job done. For a lot of games that was steam with proton.
Whatever valve develops for proton also helps the development of wine itself, which is cool.

There used to be a time where the answer to "which platform do I buy this game on" has always been gog. Now I have to think about it. Steam has its own pile of problems (I hate not being able to select an install location, I hate forced updates, I hate that it has to run in the background) but the fact that I can probably run 80% of my library with one click and it just works is a benefit I can't deny. And steam is making progress, while gog... well we're in this thread, aren't we. It's been updated on steam/linux already, I asked a friend to confirm yesterday.
Just that afaik devs can't publish themselves on gog, so we have to wait for someone there to package the gog installer. And wait. And wait. This made me giggle. I haven't been following gog forums much in the last years, but when I was last active there were community threads to track that kind of stuff, but the fact that the "The "what did just update?" thread" has been updated in the last hour makes me doubt there was any kind of change.

I should've said Valve, rather than Steam, to be more precise. You don't even need Steam installed to run something under Proton. People got frustrated it was not a true port, but rather a wrapper layer that re-implemented Windows resources on Linux. Apparently, it limited the application to single-thread only and there were some compatibility issues with open source video drivers. I hear you. I used to check on GOG before buying anything on Steam. Since Proton came along, it's been the other way around, if I bother to check on GOG at all. About the install location, you do have some freedom. You can set multiple library folders and choose which one you want to install in. It's not as straightforward as it should be and not being able to set an arbitrary path and folder name is a bummer, but it's not completely out of your hands either.

Wow, so many good answers! Thank you all very much, you make very good points. I have really nothing to add. I agree: use the tools which get the job done.

And ... still no 1.5.3 for Linux. What's going on? I am beginning to think that either there is no update of the Linux port (is someone here, who has the game on Steam, too, to confirm either way?), or GOG has simply forgotten. I find it strange either way. No update on my message to GOG support on this topic either.

Oh well, I guess 1.5.2 works well enough.

As I said, it's been updated on Steam since at least yesterday, which makes it even more frustrating.

Yes, you're right. I overlooked that. I'm sorry. That's indeed frustrating.

Aaand it is out! Perfect in time for Friday. Thanks, GOG! :D

OMG finally! :D Time to update all my mods.

Almost a week later. Yeesh.