Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Mæstro · Unread post by **Mæstro** » 2020-01-31, 16:06

As indicated in the title, it is impossible to run a locally stored .swf file in Pale Moon running the latest version of Linux Mint; if I attempt to open one, Pale Moon gives the option to open it using Celluloid or VLC, or else to save it. Flash Player's latest version (Adobe's own, not Gnash or other third-party implementations) is installed and the plug-in appears in the add-on menu, being set always to activate. On-line Flash content, such as Adobe's test function, shows properly; this inability to run only occurs with locally stored files. Pale Moon was installed using the official binary; I had not compiled it myself (and would not even know how). There are no add-ons or other changes made to the browser from the default settings. How can I run locally saved Flash content in Pale Moon?

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2020-01-31, 18:50

Raw plugin content needs a document "wrapper" to be able to run it in the browser. The same goes for other media like images and video to be able to open them as stand-alone files, although Pale Moon has specific internal document structures for that, which is why that works.

Creating a minimal html file that loads the swf as a plugin object should do the trick.

Unread post by **moonbat** » 2020-02-01, 11:21

Moonchild wrote: ↑
2020-01-31, 18:50
Raw plugin content needs a document "wrapper" to be able to run it in the browser.

Is this done for security reasons, or simply that the page renderer needs a wrapper to properly hand off plugin content?

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2020-02-01, 12:17

The latter.
Plugin content is a format not understood by the parser. A web browser is, first and foremost, a document viewer for various markup languages. Plugin content (or media for that matter) is not something you can throw at the parser without telling it what it is or what to do with it, and that needs (albeit minimal) meta data provided by a wrapper markup document.

Toa-Nuva · Unread post by **Toa-Nuva** » 2020-02-01, 13:07

Actually, there is a way. In your home directory, create a text file called ".mime.types" (note the dot at the beginning) and copy the following line into this file:

Code: Select all

application/x-shockwave-flash       swf swfl

And that's it. This should take effect immediately, you don't even need to restart the browser.

I first found out about this workaround back when I was still using Firefox, but it does work on Pale Moon as well. I'm not entirely sure what this file does or how the browser interacts with it, but it works.

stevenpusser · Unread post by **stevenpusser** » 2020-02-03, 02:30

You can also download a standalone flash player program from Adobe for Linux--it took me a couple minutes to search the Web for the answer months ago when someone asked the same question. I sorta recall it was the flash "projector", but I could be wrong about that. No, I'm not mistaken, here's the download page:

https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplay ... loads.html

Pale Moon forum

Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Re: Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Re: Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Re: Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Re: Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.

Re: Flash (.swf) files stored locally cannot be run with Mint 19.3.