flash content on linux (solution)

lolifluttershy · Unread post by **lolifluttershy** » 2023-01-13, 09:25

Operating system: arch linux 64-bit, AMD graphics
Browser version: 31.4.2 (gtk2 build from linux.palemoon.org)
32-bit or 64-bit browser?: 64-bit
Problem URL: any .swf file, like https://megami.starcreator.com/nanaca-c ... h_v110.swf
Browser theme (if not default): default
Installed add-ons: palefill, ublock origin legacy
Installed plugins: (about:plugins): flash 32.0.0.371 (debug version)

i was having the same problem as the OP of this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28728 - flash content would fail to play with "Channel error: cannot send/recv"

someone there posted their dmesg which made me realize it had been crashing, so i went to check the core dump (arch collects them in coredumpctl)
it was crashing when calling into libvdpau.so, so i tried to block that library from loading and it worked, flash content plays again

you can block the .so from being loaded by either:

using a hex editor to blank out the "libvdpau.so" and "libvdpau.so.1" strings in the flash plugin (it's optional and dynamically loaded at runtime)
adding an empty libvdpau.so to LD_LIBRARY_PATH, something like
Code: Select all
```
printf '' > empty.c
gcc -shared empty.c -o libvdpau.so
mkdir ~/empty_for_libvdpau
mv libvdpau.so ~/empty_for_libvdpau/
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=~/empty_for_libvdpau palemoon
```
edit: it might also work with LD_PRELOAD if you compile it with the right "soname" set, but i didn't test this

crash backtrace for reference:

Code: Select all

Program terminated with signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
#0  0x0000000000422fcd in free ()
#1  0x00007f33058cfa2e in XFree (data=<optimized out>) at /usr/src/debug/libx11/libX11-1.8.3/src/XlibInt.c:1633
#2  0x00007f3300b0684a in  () at /usr/lib/libvdpau.so
#3  0x00007f3300b06df3 in vdp_device_create_x11 () at /usr/lib/libvdpau.so
#4  0x00007f33022b33bd in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#5  0x00007f33022b5d8a in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#6  0x00007f33022e6283 in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#7  0x00007f33020490d2 in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#8  0x00007f3302049482 in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#9  0x00007f330204a212 in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#10 0x00007f3302294dab in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#11 0x00007f330229b53b in  () at /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
#12 0x00007f3309286689 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#13 0x00007f3307cee4d2 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#14 0x00007f3307cec840 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#15 0x00007f3307c35b37 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#16 0x00007f3307c39ffa in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#17 0x00007f3307c3b9bc in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#18 0x00007f3307c10c15 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#19 0x00007f3307c13ce0 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#20 0x00007f3307c08219 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#21 0x00007f3307c0825d in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#22 0x00007f330638a87b in g_main_dispatch (context=0x7f3304c723a0) at ../glib/glib/gmain.c:3454
#23 g_main_context_dispatch (context=0x7f3304c723a0) at ../glib/glib/gmain.c:4172
#24 0x00007f33063e1c89 in g_main_context_iterate.constprop.0 (context=0x7f3304c723a0, block=1, dispatch=1, self=<optimized out>) at ../glib/glib/gmain.c:4248
#25 0x00007f3306389132 in g_main_context_iteration (context=0x7f3304c723a0, may_block=1) at ../glib/glib/gmain.c:4313
#26 0x00007f3307c07d5f in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#27 0x00007f3307c0bbb5 in  () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#28 0x00007f3309be78c2 in XRE_InitChildProcess () at /home/me/Downloads/palemoon/libxul.so
#29 0x0000000000406104 in _start ()

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2023-01-13, 10:58

Question, why are you using a debug version of the flash plugin instead of a production version? That might be part of the problem here.

lolifluttershy · Unread post by **lolifluttershy** » 2023-01-13, 12:17

Moonchild wrote: ↑
2023-01-13, 10:58
Question, why are you using a debug version of the flash plugin instead of a production version? That might be part of the problem here.

just because it was the only version on this archived download page i was linked and i didn't think it mattered enough to search for the normal version

i just tested the problem and fix with the normal version of the player from here and it worked identically, so the post is relevant for that version as well

maybe i should've written "debugger version" instead, it isn't any less production-quality than the other one but it has some additional features for debugging flash content (like logging trace() messages from actionscript to a file)

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2023-01-13, 13:58

Well either way I'm not familiar enough with the Linux Flash player to know what's going on here but the stack trace clearly indicates it's a crash in the plugin that unfortunately also takes the browser down with it.
Some people on Linux as a daily driver might be able to chip in and help out.

絵虎 · Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2023-01-14, 12:08

The second solution worked for me! I'm using Clean Flash 34.0.0.137, and it's not a debug version. Finally, I can use Flash in Pale Moon again...

Btw, just putting an empty libvdpau.so to the same directory as the Pale Moon installation is enough for me. No need to uninstall my libvdpau-dev package from Debian or assign LD_LIBRARY_PATH or whatnot.

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-29, 08:22

How did you install Clean Flash 34.0.0.137?
Could you please be specific?
I assume you used 'Install Add-on From File...'?
Do you see it in Tools -> Add-ons -> Plugins?
I need the flash player for my Lorex video security cameras.
It's the first time when I try to use the flash player.
I'm running Pale Moon on OpenBSD 7.2.
Thanks.

絵虎 · Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2023-01-29, 14:11

We don't support OpenBSD at all. Where did you get that build from? You should ask for support from whoever gave you that build.

Also, I don't think Adobe ever made Flash Player binaries for OpenBSD.

Mæstro · Unread post by **Mæstro** » 2023-01-29, 15:55

A moment searching has found a guide to running Flash in Firefox 3·6 in OpenBSD. I doubt that it would work as is, if the OpenBSD repository no longer carries any NPAPI packages, but someone more technically skilled than I might find some of the information here helpful in trying to run the Linux Flash plug-in on OpenBSD. Whether it would run is another matter altogether, of course…

I have found an article from about 2016 attesting that Flash had never had an official OpenBSD build as of then. As Flash was already in decline then, we can be sure none was ever made.

絵虎 · Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2023-01-29, 16:24

OpenBSD has removed Linux emulation IIRC, so no, that won't work nowadays.

EDIT: Just searched, and yep, removed since OpenBSD 6.0: https://www.infoworld.com/article/30990 ... ility.html

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 17:01

jobbautista9 wrote: ↑
2023-01-29, 14:11
We don't support OpenBSD at all. Where did you get that build from? You should ask for support from whoever gave you that build.

Also, I don't think Adobe ever made Flash Player binaries for OpenBSD.

What I asked and what you answered!
I do not understand why you are asking about the build and the binaries...
I built palemoon on my openbsd box.
Sometimes linux binary works on openbsd and this is the only option I have.

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 17:21

Mæstro wrote: ↑
2023-01-29, 15:55
A moment searching has found a guide to running Flash in Firefox 3·6 in OpenBSD. I doubt that it would work as is, if the OpenBSD repository no longer carries any NPAPI packages, but someone more technically skilled than I might find some of the information here helpful in trying to run the Linux Flash plug-in on OpenBSD. Whether it would run is another matter altogether, of course…

I have found an article from about 2016 attesting that Flash had never had an official OpenBSD build as of then. As Flash was already in decline then, we can be sure none was ever made.

Thank you for your reply.
It's the first time when I work with add-ons.
I installed pale moon in a desperate attempt to use flash player as palemoon.org shows
support for flash.
On the other hand, when I go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Install Add-on from file... - flash_player_for_firefox-1.1.9.xpi, the following message pops up:
"This add-on could not be installed because Pale Moon does not support We
bExtensions."................

"

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2023-01-30, 17:32

newFlashPlayer wrote: ↑
2023-01-30, 17:01
I do not understand why you are asking about the build and the binaries...

It's because we've had a history of people just tossing out random builds with bad build configuration, and then having users come here for support for something we didn't make. Since OpenBSD has caused additional problems there's a natural response to ask where the build came from. If you built it from source yourself, then of course that's not a problem (with the caveat that we can't really help with stability issues).

newFlashPlayer wrote: ↑
2023-01-30, 17:21
On the other hand, when I go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Install Add-on from file... - flash_player_for_firefox-1.1.9.xpi,

The Flash player for Pale Moon is an NPAPI plugin (a binary plugin). It's not an extension. I wasn't even aware someone made a WebExtension called "flash player" or in what way that would even work with how limited WEs are... Anyway, that will never work on Pale Moon since we don't support that type of extension to begin with. If you want to play Flash content, then you need to use a Flash plugin (not extension).

EDIT: ouch. that extension seems to be scamware/vaporware. It doesn't actually do anything but save flash content to disk to then be played in an installed plugin... and it seems to open random other sites (probably affiliates). Either way it doesn't work without actually having flashplayer installed alongside it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... s/?score=1

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 19:32

The Flash player for Pale Moon is an NPAPI plugin (a binary plugin). It's not an extension. I wasn't even aware someone made a WebExtension called "flash player" or in what way that would even work with how limited WEs are... Anyway, that will never work on Pale Moon since we don't support that type of extension to begin with. If you want to play Flash content, then you need to use a Flash plugin (not extension).

EDIT: ouch. that extension seems to be scamware/vaporware. It doesn't actually do anything but save flash content to disk to then be played in an installed plugin... and it seems to open random other sites (probably affiliates). Either way it doesn't work without actually having flashplayer installed alongside it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... s/?score=1

1. How can I install an NPAPI plugin on Pale Moon browser? Is there a PM link for this?
There are some github links that provide a plugin library and/or executable for flash,
not a .xpi file.

2. Do you have any other suggestion for me?
Lorex, the manufacturer of the video cameras do not want to provide a replacement for flash.
palemoon.org shows that it supports Flash. Is there any option/workaround for me?
Thanks.

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2023-01-30, 19:38

1. on OpenBSD? as others have said it's not available on that platform as far as we know. So, you can't.

2. I suggest using a Windows/Linux installation and a Windows or Linux NPAPI Flash Player plugin by installing the latest non-crippled version of Flash player. Perhaps in a VM or what not?

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 20:15

[quote=Moonchild post_id=236304 time=1675107496 user_id=2]
1. on OpenBSD? as others have said it's not available on that platform as far as we know. So, you can't.

No, not on openbsd. On linux.
How can I install an NPAPI plugin on Pale Moon browser running on linux?

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2023-01-30, 20:33

See above

Mæstro · Unread post by **Mæstro** » 2023-01-30, 20:34

Open your terminal and run the following commands which others have used to install Flash for Linux:

Code: Select all

mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/plugins && wget -q https://github.com/darktohka/clean-flash-builds/releases/download/v1.7/flash_player_patched_npapi_linux.$( (( $(getconf LONG_BIT) == 32 )) && echo "i386" || echo "x86_64").tar.gz -O - | tar -zxf - -C ~/.mozilla/plugins libflashplayer.so

※This will install the latest Linux version of Clean Flash, prepared from the Chinese version of Flash maintained since 2020 and stripped of any tracking software.

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 21:33

Mæstro wrote: ↑
2023-01-30, 20:34
Open your terminal and run the following commands which others have used to install Flash for Linux:
Code: Select all
mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/plugins && wget -q https://github.com/darktohka/clean-flash-builds/releases/download/v1.7/flash_player_patched_npapi_linux.$( (( $(getconf LONG_BIT) == 32 )) && echo "i386" || echo "x86_64").tar.gz -O - | tar -zxf - -C ~/.mozilla/plugins libflashplayer.so
※This will install the latest Linux version of Clean Flash, prepared from the Chinese version of Flash maintained since 2020 and stripped of any tracking software.

I want to make sure I understand the things.
Having ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so will be enough - Pale Moon will
automatically use it for Flash Player functionality.
If it's true, all I need is libflashplayer.so for OpenBSD.
Is it true?

Mæstro · Unread post by **Mæstro** » 2023-01-30, 22:11

This is doubtful. As others have noted above, Flash has never existed for OpenBSD, and the traditional ways that one could adapt Linux software for OpenBSD have fallen away. My instructions were for installing into Linux. While there could well be some way to make the plug-in run in OpenBSD, it is beyond my ken.

newFlashPlayer · Unread post by **newFlashPlayer** » 2023-01-30, 22:47

Moonchild wrote: ↑
2023-01-30, 20:33
See above

My question has been this: with Pale Moon on linux, is having ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
enough to get Flash Player functionality?
In other words, I do not need to do any other settings in Pale Moon. Pale Moon will automatically
use the lib in ~/.mozilla/plugins to get the Flash Player functionality.
That's all the information I need.

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