209450 - Flash plugin is not registered in Linux Firefox

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Peter Janes]

Using Firebird 0.6 on Linux (RedHat 8, glibc 2.3.2) and Flash plugin 6,0,79,0
(of March 3, 2003) installed in ~/.phoenix/plugins/, about:plugins does not show
that the plugin is being registered.  This is confirmed by visiting Flash-based
sites, which either detect that the plugin is not available (the linked URL) or
pop up the null plugin dialog for type application/x-shockwave-flash
(http://www.homestarrunner.com/).

Using Mozilla nightly 2003031808 on the same host with the same plugin works. 
Also note that the "click to display" Flash blocker from bug 94035 is not in use
in either browser.

Additional reports from bug 187570 (flash plugin doesn't transfer from Mozilla
to Firebird installs, which appears to have been misread as "Flash doesn't work"):

------- Additional Comment #2 From Erwin  2003-04-17 23:53 -------

hi,
same here..
i'm using phoenix-cvs (don't have mozilla installed)
(Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030416 Phoenix/0.5+)
and phoenix can't see flash plugin either...

$ ls /usr/lib/phoenix/plugins/
flashplayer.xpt  javaplugin_oji.so  libflashplayer.so  libnullplugin.so

the plugin is in the plugins directory,
but about:plugins doesn't show it's installed.
(it can recognize java tho)


------- Additional Comment #3 From [e-mail] 2003-05-04 17:50 -------

I have the same problem. I'm using

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4b) Gecko/20030503 Mozilla Firebird/0.6

under gentoo linux 1.4-rc4 (obtained phoenix-cvs through portage.) I try to
install the flash plugin (libflashplayer.so) by putting it in
/usr/lib/phoenix/plugins/ (plugins is actually a linked directory that links to
/usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins/ not that that makes any difference.) I restart the
browser, and when i try to go to a site a popup tells me

This page contains information of a type (application/x-shockwave-flash) that
can only be viewed with the appropriate Plug-in.

I have successfully used the flash plugin in phoenix before, so i am not sure
why this is not working with this new version. So far, i have found no workaround.


------- Additional Comment #4 From Andy Parkins 2003-05-21 04:08 -------

Having similar difficulties.  The plugin is symbolically linked in the firebird
plugins directory.  When loading (or looking at about:plugins) the following
message appears...

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
[/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so: undefined symbol: NPP_SetValue]

Comment 1

[Adam Roben]

Confirming bug still present in Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.5b)
Gecko/20030804 Mozilla Firebird/0.6.1

I compiled Firebird with gcc 3.2.3, so I know that Flash scripting is not
supposed to work, but Firebird doesn't recognize the plugin at all (i.e. doesn't
show in about:plugins)

Comment 2

[Dave Sanders]

Same problem in Moz 1.5 alpha release (2003071815)

Comment 3

[Adam Roben]

I'm seeing this bug, too on Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.5b)
Gecko/20030826 Mozilla Firebird/0.6.1+.  When I start Firebird from the command
line I get
this error message (/usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins is simlinked to in my Firebird
directory):

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library
/usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins/libflashplayer.so [libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3: cannot
open shared object file: No such file or directory]

The Flash plugin does not show up in the about:plugins screen and the default
plugin kicks in whenever Flash is embedded in a webpage.

Comment 4

[Derek Wright]

First - Built MozillaFirebird w/ GCC 3.2.3

After launching from a console to catch any error messages I would recieve:

libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory.

After doing some poking around my system for the libraries I decided to try a
similar file under GCC 3.2.3 named libstdc++.so.

ln -s /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i686-pc-linux-gnu/3.2.3/libstdc++.so
/usr/lib/libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3

Created a link, flash loads perfect and no error messages on console anymore.
Hope this helps!

Also posted this on Mozilla Forums:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=24862&start=15

Comment 5

[Tim Skirvin]

My problem is similar but not quite the same - the plugin registers in
about:plugins, but it doesn't actually *work*.  I'm not sure how much more
information than this I have; I'm running on a stock RH9 box with Firebird 0.6.1
and 0.7, using Flash 6.0r79.  

Comment 6

[Warren Togami]

This is NOT A BUG.  The issues you describe are common problems because you did
not read the instructions, and are also covered at the Macromedia Flash RPMS
FAQ: http://macromedia.mplug.org/faq.html 

I can guarantee your issues are the following:

1) libflashplayer.so requires the libstdc++ library from gcc-2.96.  Most Linux
distributions have a backwards compatible package you can install and it works
fine.  As the above FAQ states compat-libstdc++ is the Red Hat and Fedora
package, while libstdc++2.10 is Mandrake.  Use your distribution's automatic
install tool (like apt, up2date, yum, red-carpet, etc.), and it will
automatically pull in the compat library that you need rather than you needing
to find and install it manually.

2) For javascript integration you *NEED* to use regxpcom once after installing
both plugin files in order for XPCOM integration to happen.  xpti.dat then knows
about the flashplayer, and javascript integration works.

If you are using any RPM based distribution then both #1 and #2 are
automatically taken care of if you install the official Macromedia Flash RPMS
for x86 Linux at http://macromedia.mplug.org.  The RPM wont allow you install
unless you first have the proper compat libstdc++ installed.

Comment 7

[Warren Togami]

Oh, nevermind... XPCOM integration is indeed broken with gcc3 Mozilla.  #1 is
NOT A BUG however.  I will talk to Macromedia about this...

Comment 8

[Ben Jones]

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library
/home/grunger2/firefox/plugins/java2/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so
[libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
directory]
 
this is the problem i keep getting yet the files are there except
[libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2

im confused why it does this, so help would be great

Comment 9

[Peter Janes]

Seems to work with Firefox 1.5 and Shockwave Flash 7.0 r61.