Attached is the equivalent patch that was originally submitted,
regenerated to apply cleanly to steam 1.0.0.47-2.
diff -urN steam-1.0.0.47.orig/debian/README.Debian steam-1.0.0.47/debian/README.Debian
--- steam-1.0.0.47.orig/debian/README.Debian 1970-01-01 10:00:00.000000000 +1000
+++ steam-1.0.0.47/debian/README.Debian 2014-04-19 14:39:49.467197314 +1000
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+Debian's Steam package exposes some configuration parameters. You can
+place these in one of two configuration files:
+
+ System-wide config file:
+ /etc/default/steam
+
+ Per-user config file:
+ ~/.steam/defaults
+
+
+
+Currently supported parameters are:
+
+
+ STEAM_AUDIO_DRIVER
+ This can be used to override the audio driver used by SDL. If unset,
+ 'pulse' (PulseAudio) will be used. Possible values include 'alsa' and
+ 'oss', although the full list will depend on your platform and your
+ build of SDL. Note that this is not the *system* build of SDL; it is
+ built separately as part of each user's Steam installation.
+
+ Notably, 'jack' is *not* a valid driver.
+
+ Example (to use ALSA instead of PulseAudio):
+ STEAM_AUDIO_DRIVER=alsa
+
+
+ STEAM_AUDIO_DEVICE
+ This is a driver-specific representation of the audio device to use.
+
+ Example (to use first audio device with ALSA):
+ STEAM_AUDIO_DRIVER=alsa
+ STEAM_AUDIO_DEVICE=hw:0,0
diff -urN steam-1.0.0.47.orig/debian/scripts/steam steam-1.0.0.47/debian/scripts/steam
--- steam-1.0.0.47.orig/debian/scripts/steam 2014-03-29 16:16:54.000000000 +1100
+++ steam-1.0.0.47/debian/scripts/steam 2014-04-19 14:39:49.467197314 +1000
@@ -9,6 +9,16 @@
ubuntu32=$config/ubuntu12_32
exe=$ubuntu32/steam
+# Load system-wide and per-user configuration
+if [ -f /etc/default/steam -a -r /etc/default/steam ]; then
+ . /etc/default/steam
+fi
+if [ -f "${config}/defaults" -a -r "${config}/defaults" ]; then
+ . "${config}/defaults"
+fi
+[ -z "$STEAM_AUDIO_DRIVER" ] || export SDL_AUDIODRIVER="$STEAM_AUDIO_DRIVER"
+[ -z "$STEAM_AUDIO_DEVICE" ] || export AUDIODEV="$STEAM_AUDIO_DEVICE"
+
# launch steam / do an initial update when the exe does not already exist
test ! -d $config && rm -rf $config && mkdir -p $config || true
test ! -x $config/steam.sh && rm -rf $config/package $exe || true
