Latest Adobe Flash plugin just installed - SOLVED

[Basil Chupin]

On 10/02/2011 12:56, NoOp wrote:
> On 02/08/2011 10:23 PM, Basil Chupin wrote:
>> A few minutes ago the Update Manager (for Maverick) installed the latest
>> Adobe Flash plugin v 10.2.152.27.........and now I cannot see any videos
>> (on YouTube, BBC, et al).
>>
>> The moral of this story is: do NOT install the new plugin.
> Is it?

Yes it is.

I could have added, "until the question has been resolved" but I 
consider people here intelligent enough to deduce this for themselves.

> $ apt-cache policy adobe-flashplugin
> adobe-flashplugin:
>    Installed: 10.2.152.27-0maverick1
>    Candidate: 10.2.152.27-0maverick1
>    Version table:
>   *** 10.2.152.27-0maverick1 0
>          500http://archive.canonical.com/  maverick/partner i386 Packages
>          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

This is not as useful as suggested because while the above is showing on 
my system......


> about:plugins
> Shockwave Flash
>
>      File name: /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so
>      Shockwave Flash 10.2 r152


....this is NOT what shows up in my about:plugins. What shows up is 
filename: libgnashplugin.so and the version is 10.1.r999. What is 
installed is not reflected in what Firefox actually "sees" and tries to 
use (the *.so in /usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so ).



> Works well for me:

[pruned]

And as you saw, while it may be working for you it certainly hasn't been 
working for others - and certainly not for me.

However, as the Subject heading is now showing, I have solved the 
problem but I do not know why the problem should have arisen - someone 
else can go and figure that one out.

I'll start the solution by mentioning following:

(1) on the Adobe site itself there appears to be different versions of 
the same plugin and this depends on whether you download the *.deb 
version (12,110,428 bytes) or the *.tar.gz version (12,127,284 bytes);

(2) the *.so from Ubuntu is 12,110,348 bytes big;

(3) if you go to a web site (eg BBC Online) you will be 'told' that you 
do not have the correct flashplayer installed and if you then download 
the flashplayer using the given link and install it (using nautilus) the 
flashplayer.so which is installed is for HARDY (10.2.152.27-0hardy1) and 
not for Maverick;

(4) following the installation of the latest flashplayer plugin 
(10.2.152.27 for Maverick) using the Update Manager, while the 
libflashplayer.so is correctly installed in /usr/lib/adobe-flashplayer/ 
the symlink(s) to it are rubbish in /etc/alternatives/ : the symlink(s) 
is/are changed to point to /usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so and not to 
the correct location;

(5) there are 6 symlinks to the plugin in /etc/alternatives:

firefox-flashplugin
mozilla-ditto
iceape-ditto
iceweasel-ditto
xulrunner-ditto
xulrunner-addons-ditto

and all these get changed to /usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so when 
adobe-flashplayer is removed in the Synaptic Package Manager and then 
re-installed ---- and this is reproducible (I think 5 times should be 
enough to prove this); also as soon as the plugin is removed 
about:plugins in Firefox shows that the version of the *.so being used 
is v10.1.r999 (but apt-cache policy shows that no plugin is installed);

(6) the solution for me was to re-install adobe-flashplayer in Synaptic, 
and then in /etc/alternatives/ edit the symlink for 
"mozilla-flashplugin" to show 
/usr/lib/adobe-flashplayer/libflashplayer.so after which about:plugins 
in FF correctly shows that the latest plugin is being used - and I can 
now view videos on all sites.


BC

-- 
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