How to use the newest PepperFlash with an older Chromium ...

[Mike Walsh]

Hiya, David.

Mm. I'm not absolutely certain. I know there's a version of 34 that Oscar's done, floating around this sub-forum somewhere, which uses the 'standard' Linux FlashPlayer (the one Geoffrey's auto-updater works for).

I myself used 36.0.1985.125 for quite some time, updating the libpepflashplayer.so module as and when necessary. It was the smoothest one (yet still lightweight enough) for my hardware. So, I'm guessing somewhere around 34/35 is where the changeover occurred.

Yep; looking back through peebee's Chromium thread, this would appear to be the changeover point. Give 36.0.1985.125 or 36.0.1985.143 a try; I got on very well with both of them. They were starting to include the 'sandboxing' in those days, but it was nowhere near as heavy as it's become in recent months.

I currently use the most up-to-date versions of Chrome that I can.....but I get the 'Aw, snap!' error more & more frequently now. I'm seriously thinking of going back to Chromium 36 again; it never gave me that problem. I'm pretty sure I can live with the banner every time on start-up, 'nagging' me to upgrade.....

I run one 64-bit Pup; Tahrpup64, downloaded and installed around 10 days ago. (My hardware is perfectly capable of running 64-bit stuff; but since I gave up on 64-bit Ubuntu, and moved to Puppy, I've always used the 32-bit versions.....they just run so fast!) So far, it's working nicely; I'm using Chrome 49.0.2623.87 (64-bit.....which is all you can get hold of now). Simply downloaded the 64-bit .deb package from the Chrome d/l site, and clicked to install it. No problems at all, so far.....and haven't yet seen the 'Aw,snap!' error, neither!


Mike.

[davids45]

G'day Mike,

Thanks for the reply.

I do have a Chromium-37 version in my archive which I'll see if it comes with pepperflash and if it snaps with Geoguessr.

Or I'll look around for chromium-36 + pepperflash as the older seems better with chromium for what I do with it.

Chromium-34 just seems unbreakable. Its extensions don't list or offer pepper or Adobe flashplayer, so I'll try an alternative (says it plays U-Tube videos) and see how it goes.

David S.

[Crushed]

In regards to davids45 question about Chromium Versions I'm currently running an even older Chromium with Pepper Flash;
Chromium 27.0.1421.0 (custom)
OS Linux
Flash plugin 17.0.0.134 /usr/lib/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so

It works fine APART from Farmville crashing Flash every few minutes.
Farmville crashes the Seamonkey Browser, (and worse), on Adobe Flash 11.2.
SongPop DEMANDS Flash Version 12 and above to run, (it'll in fact run on Flash 10 if you con it), which is why I installed Chromium in the first place.

[davids45]

G'day Crushed,

Thanks for the encouraging information.

I'll see if I can add Pepper to my Chromium-34 via the /usr/lib/PepperFlash/....so method. Just create the directory and add the .so file.

I can't find any 'Plug-in' mention in Chromium Settings, and apparently PepperFlash is a Plug-in not an Extension??

Anyway, if I get lucky and Pepper works, I need to check does it affect its stability with .swf files, as well as in browsing generally.

I assume I can remove it by simply deleting the PepperFlash directory.

David S.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, Crushed.

Well, if you can get away with Pepper 17 for what you want, go for it!

The only reason I started this thread in the first place is because although I couldn't give a hoot about the version of most programs/apps that I run (if it works, etc...), with Flash (any sort!) I'm almost paranoid about religiously keeping it updated. I've seen machines 'bricked' through Flash exploits.....and there was that spell early last year when Adobe released updates for both Pepper and 'ordinary' Linux Flash about 4 times in as many weeks. (They normally keep to around a 6-8 week update schedule). And that was because some hacker somewhere got Flash in his sights, and just kept on (and on) 'pegging away' at it for all he was worth.

My 'manual' method works for Puppy the same way that Canonical obtain Flash for Chromium in Ubuntu. Except of course now I've discovered that the update mechanism in Linux Chrome does work, up to a point. It downloads the new version, it just doesn't 'point' the browser at it.

Actually, it's SlimJet now, rather than Chrome, since Google have knocked 32-bit Chrome on the head. I've no idea how much longer Adobe will keep developing/maintaining the 32-bit PepperFlash, but for anybody who wants to update it themselves, the method is outlined above, and the requisite bits are in my MediaFire account.....which I will keep up-to-date for as long as possible. Pepper is only a kernel module, when all's said and done, and it's easy enough to move around the system, if you know what you're doing.

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@davids45:-

Hi, David. Well, you've got two choices really. There's either Oscar's Chromium 34 which uses Linux Flash:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=86501

....or there's peebee's version which uses Pepper:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 972#777972

OR, there's 36 (with Pepper) here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 116#790116

I can't really say what the difference is between them. Might be interesting to install them separately, and have a look at the file structure. I know when you go into /usr/lib, you want the 'chromium-browser' folder, not the 'chromium' one. Inside, there's a folder named 'plugins'; inside that, there's the 'Pepperflash' folder, which in turn contains the 'libpepflashplayer.so' module, and the 'manifest.json' text file.

Do take note that with Oscar's version, if you want to use it in any of the Slacko's, you need to install the 'libgnomekeyring' and 'libgconf2' .pets first (which he's provided in the post.) Those pets are worth storing away somewhere, 'cos they come in handy with most versions of Chromium run in any Slacko. The Slackware code-base just doesn't include them by default.

You pays your money, and you makes your choice..! Personally, I'd go for the Pepperflash version, 'cos being an 'out-of-process' PPAPI plugin (designed to work with the 'sandboxing' they've introduced), it's supposedly a lot more secure than the 'in-process' NPAPI ones (which date, believe it or not, all the way back to the original NetScape browser, out of which FireFox grew.) That's ancient history..!

As always, the choice is down to you. I can only advise.....


Mike.

[Crushed]

Hi davids45,
There was a .Pet from on the Forums here somewhere called chromium-pepperflash-plugin that I original used to install the PepperFlash.
(To lazy to bother searching the forum other than a simple search that didn't find it - it's from 2013).

If I recall right it added a couple of library files to Chromium 27?
Chromium was also from a .Pet on here.

And I have been manually updating the libpepflashplayer.so since.

About the only issue I have is FV crashes every few minutes as Flash reaches 1.2GB! Memory usage.
On SeaMonkey at that point it takes the Browser done and often OTHER open Apps!

I have the Adobe Flash Plug-in turned OFF.
(Used by SeaMonkey, etc.)
The Pepper Flash Plug-in is started by a Command Line in the Menu.
Without the Command Line it DOESN'T Load Pepper Flash.
(Possibly because of the file location?)

For clarity: I'm running Lucid Puppy 5.2.5 on 2Gb of RAM.
Oh and STILL running it from the original CD!, with a Personal Storage file.

[Mike Walsh]

I can't find any 'Plug-in' mention in Chromium Settings, and apparently PepperFlash is a Plug-in not an Extension??

Hi again, David.

No; you don't access plugins via the Settings menu. Open a new tab, type chrome://plugins, and enter it in. Takes you to the plugins page, where you'll find Flash's details. (If you want more details, click on the [+] in the top right corner).

A lot of Chrome/Chromium's more 'sensitive' code/options, etc., are accessed this way. Saves your average 'bodger' tinkering about with them, and breaking it..!

In my (admittedly limited!) understanding, all modern browsers are designed with a 'socket' for FlashPlayers. When a site/app/whatever requests the use of a player to display content, the browser then hunts around to find one; and 'standard' Flash (& PepperFlash) are designed with a 'plug' that specifically fits that socket. So it doesn't matter which one it finds, it'll use it.

In theory..! (Not quite sure how HTML5 fits into this equation; haven't researched it enough yet).


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Morning, everybody.

As a follow-on to all this, PepperFlash .pets are now available for those who still prefer older Chrome/Chromium-based browsers, but wish to keep Pepper up-to-date.

They can be found here.


Mike.

[drblock2]

Thanks Mike!

I spent several weeks on and off trying to get flash working with a stand-alone installation of the new chrome-based Opera.

For general information on installing Opera see: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 2&start=28.

Careful reading of your first contribution brought the insight and the solution to the problem.

The only file necessary to get flash working in Opera is libpepflashplayer.so. This file is available as you note in your first contribution from: http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbu ... /pkg/14.1/. It is the large (4.5M) file chromium-pepperflash-plugin-24.0.0.186-i386-1alien.txz.

You can unpack this with xarchive and extract libpepflashplayer.so. The PepperFlash .json file is already included in Opera under the Opera subdirectory:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/opera/resources/pepper_flash_config.json.

This is no more than a list of possible locations for the library file. Choose one of them, create the directory if it does not exist and copy the PepperFlash library into it. Alternatively, you can create your own directory for the library file and add it to the top of the list in pepper_flash_config.json.

Restart Opera and you are off and running.

[Mike Walsh]

Goodness me, this is an old thread resurrected..!

Well, now. Opera's not one I tend to do a .pet for PepperFlash; since a) It's not that commonly used (the newer version, that is).....and b) they keep moving stuff around! Which makes it a nightmare for getting things in the right place.....

As you say, libpepflashplayer is the only one you actually need. However, it's an idea to keep 'manifest.json' with it, since that's where the 'Blink' and 'V8' engines read the Pepper version from.

Easy enough to check versions, anyway; just use the Adobe 'Flash Checker' page:-

http://www.adobe.com/uk/software/flash/about/

If you're out of date, use the link on that page to the download.....it'll automatically detect the correct architecture (x86 or amd64), and download the correct one for you. Then extract the tar.gz, and just move the files where you need 'em. Simples!

You might be interested in the PepperFlash Auto-Updater our Russian colleague, sfs has developed. It works just the same as Geoffrey's Flash Auto-Updater does.....except it doesn't have a GUI. Still does the job, though. If you want to run it manually & see what's happening, run it in the terminal.

If you want to automate it, so it always runs at boot, see my post here.

You just need to modify the path to your particular PepperFlash directory (variables 'pf' & 'pv', lines 4 and 5 of the script.) Works well, too!


Mike.