550482 - navigator.plugin[x].version empty on Linux for Firefox 3.6

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core Graveyard :: Plug-ins, defect)

Description

[Austin King [:ozten]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6
Ubuntu 9.10

Binaries are from mozilla.com and not Ubutnu.

Actual
The navigator.plugins[x].version property is always an empty string
I have Shockwave Flash and 4 Totem created Plugins that mimic VLC, WMP, Quicktime, and DivX.

This looks like a systematic bug instead of a vendor by vendor issue.

Expected
Mac and Windows XP have a non-empty string for all plugins that I was able to test.

See the "Version Property" column
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tQiCBMTqyHXsGGgGJ6F2g8A&single=true&gid=0&output=html

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Hmm.  Do the versions appear in about:plugins?  Or are they empty there too?

This works fine for me on Fedora 12...

Comment 2

[Austin King [:ozten]]

(In reply to comment #0)
Default Plugin does have a non-empty version 1.0.0.15

(In reply to comment #1)
Yes, about:plugins has empty strings for everything, except Default Plugin.
Example:
Shockwave Flash

    File: libflashplayer.so
    Version: 
    Shockwave Flash 10.0 r45

Comment 3

[Benjamin Smedberg]

It looks like most plugins on Linux don't provide a version:

Default Plugin

    File: libnullplugin.so
    Version: 1.0.0.15
    The default plugin handles plugin data for mimetypes and extensions that are not specified and facilitates downloading of new plugins.

VLC Multimedia Plugin (compatible Totem 2.28.5)

    File: libtotem-cone-plugin.so
    Version: 
    The Totem 2.28.5 plugin handles video and audio streams.

Comment 4

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Plugins provide the version by implementing NP_GetPluginVersion, which is an optional symbol that most plugins don't appear to implement.

Comment 5

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Ah, indeed.  I had just made sure versions appeared somewhere, since comment 0 said "always".  But the only plug-ins I have are the test plugin, demo print plugin, and default plugin.  They all have versions, of course.

Comment 6

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Resolving old bugs which are likely not relevant any more, since NPAPI plugins are deprecated.