[solved] slackware media march - july 2013

Links: slackerboy install notes :: slackbuilds.org :: adobe flash 11 :: ibm bash shell tutorial

"It's rarely if ever necessary to update a good Linux installation -- the odd security update being the exception". This should and would be a true statement if it weren't for the parade of media player and media codec changes perpetrated by media providers. Over the long run, media-related updates cost us months of wasted time and effort.

An site sensitive to anything less than perfect Flash configuration is southparkstudios.com, ironically. If it indicates Flash or some other similar Flash error, where do I begin?

checking

Running Firefox 17 ESR inside a Slackware KDE desktop, look into /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins

$ ls /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins
libnpjp2.so
skypebuttons.so

Nope, no flashplayer installed. And if I look into "about:plugins" in my browser, I also see no flash player installed.

KDE directory gobbledy-gook

The final version of Adobe is 11.2, due to be entirely retired Jan 2014. Linux users may be forced into Chromium at that time. Lack of information is typical in the media-player realm. Meanwhile, we're supposed to install kcm_adobe_flash_player.so into a bunch of sub-directories and make soft links and so on without KDE documentation. No thanks.

libflashplayer.so [SUCCESS]

Point the browser to adobe flash 11, and download.

$ tar -xzvf install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz

Download the tarball and unpack it. A file named libflashplayer.so is created. In a separate file named "usr" a lot of KDE bologna (see below) is also created. Ignore the entire "usr" folder and focus upon libflashplayer.so .

# cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/

Verify the Flash Player is active in Firefox via about:plugins. If it's not in there, create a plugins folder: /usr/lib64/firefox[version]/plugins; try that kind of thing. Done in five minutes. Go to YouTube and enjoy your bass fishing videos.

Chromium in Arch

This works, for those running Arch. Follow the instructions for installing "chromium-pepperflash-stable".

kcm_adobe_flash_player.so [FAIL]

Same as with libflashplayer.soabove, head to adobe flash 11, and download.

$ tar -xzvf install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz

The unpacked folder will be a /usr folder, with subfolders, /bin, /lib, /share, and so on. Sudo-up and waste an hour transfering files into the real versions of these directories in the file system. For example

$ cd [install directory]
$ cd usr/lib64/kde4
# mkdir /usr/lib64/kde4; mkdir /usr/lib/kde4
# cp kcm_adobe_flash_player.so /usr/lib64/kde4/
# cp kcm_adobe_flash_player.so /usr/lib/kde4/
$ cd ..; cd .. ; cd bin
# cp flash-player-properties /usr/bin/
$ cd ..; cd share/applications
# cp flash-player-properties.desktop /usr/share/applications/

And so on through each directory. After these were complete:

# update-desktop-database
# update-desktop-database -q /usr/share/applications >/dev/null 2>&1
# gtk-update-icon-cache
# gtk-update-icon cache /usr/share/icons/hicolor >/dev/null 2>&1

None of this KDE sh*t worked. Suggest the easy way with libflashplayer.so or, if runninig Arch, get the pepperflash prior to Jan 2014.

Browser - Adobe Flash

Links: Slackware Flash update :: Opera plug-in page

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Like most reasonable people, I dislike Adobe's proprietary obsfucation. It's most oppressive in the Linux environment, where its intrusive modules don't interact well with Linux's more transparent libraries.

A recent Adobe Flash update¹ screwed my Iceweasel installation and, in turn, destabilized a previously 3-years' stable Zenwalk install. That is, immediately following the update of (libflashplayer.so), including complete deletion of all prior versions, etc, the previously rock-solid Iceweasel intermittently crashed at Flash intensive sites. A new installation of FlashBlock did not stop the crashes. Reinstallation of all three applications did no better. I eventually had to move to ArchLinux from Zenwalk, due to these Adobe-related Flash crashes. In other words, I had to change my entire OS structure thanks to Adobe's closed-sourced, DRM intensive elements, which are so-far impossible for average users to ignore for a typical browsing environment.

¹Pop-up windows demanding Adobe Flash Player updates began to appear in sponsored YouTube videos December 2012. Prior to this update ads could be bypassed. Following the update, they could not.

Flash Player updates, fail

Links Flashplayer

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In Zenwalk (mini-Slack), I run Iceweasel for a browser. This is just a stripped Firefox that doesn't use copyrighted code, a nice touch. However, it means the User Agent string is typically unrecognized at mainstream sites like Hulu. When there is, for example, a periodic Flash update that sites like Hulu want us to install, Adobe provides a warning message that I have an unrecognized or unsupported system.

In spite of the ominous warning message, Adobe provides the latest libflashplayer.so module at their their site. Wipe out the old directory and the two softlinks. Put in the latest libflashplayer.so and create two softlinks to the new module. Right as rain.

download the module
Go to the Adobe Flashplayer page, which has a sniffer to determine the OS is Linux. I took the basic tar.gz version which is pre-compiled (can we say "proprietary"?). Unpack it. That's it. However, there are times when Flash updates have entirely broken my browser and this then requires an OS update. We never want to update an OS for any reason. We want a stable, 30 year installation.



remove the old stuff...
To be reasonably sure older versions didn't linger and cause conflicts:

# rm -rf /usr/lib/flashplugin*
# rm /home/foo/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
# rm /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so
# rm /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so

...and in with the new stuff
The softlink commands are wrapping here in the blog's narrow column; there are just two of them.

# mkdir /usr/lib/flashplugin
# cp /home/foo/downloads/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/flashplugin/
# ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
# ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so