I could have tacked this to the end of stemsee's 'Opera64' thread, but since I'm intending to make this a regular, on-going project, I'm starting a brand-new thread instead.
I started getting interested in 'new' Opera around a year ago, after a request from somebody to get it running in either Xenialpup64 or Tahrpup64, I forget which. After realising I liked the layout, plus the newly built-in VPN, I'd found very nearly my perfect browser.....with one, glaring exception. DRM (WideVine) refused to work.....so; no NetFlix..! (*sigh*)
This is a 'deal-breaker' for me, as it is apparently for many, many others. Every other browser out there manages to support WideVine under Linux, so; why can't Opera?
Well; following a fair bit of detective work, and chasing up quite a few threads & cross-references from the Opera Forums, I'm pleased to be able to announce what I'm hoping will be the start of a series of 'fully-kitted' Opera SFS packages for the 64-bit Pups. Especially bearing in mind what Mikeslr said in the other thread; that Opera appears not to mind running as /root. Yay!
And 'fully-kitted' means not only PepperFlash (with built-in updater) for the rest of its projected lifespan - EOL at the end of 2020, don't forget - but for the first time with these packages, WideVine now functions OOTB.
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This was accomplished in 3, relatively easy steps; simpler than expected, although reliant upon the use of a single, specific item:-
1 ) We 'borrow' the latest libwidevinecdm.so from current Google Chrome, and place it inside the /usr/lib/opera directory.
2) We then edit the file to be found at /usr/lib/opera/resources/widevine_config.json, in order to point the 'preload' path to this location. However, even this doesn't get NetFlix et al 'up-and-running'. We're not quite there, yet. One more. crucial step to go.....
3 ) Wouldn't you just know it? Ffmpeg's involved again.....just as it always is where building the Slimjet browser packages is concerned. Turns out that the supplied libffmpeg.so doesn't support H264 playback.....essential for WideVine to work. (Exactly the same issue as encountered by OscarTalks' with the Slimmie packages; hardly surprising I'm getting a sense of 'déja vu' here...)
Why on earth build-in the 'infrastucture' to support a function, then supply the package in such a way that the function cannot possibly be implemented 'as it comes'..? Makes no sense.
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One of the guys over at the Opera forums did a fair bit of detective work of his own, and tracked down a developer at Github who supplies ready-built packages for libffmpeg.so. These just want unzipping, and dropping into the 'opera' directory, in place of the supplied version.
Finally, the moment of truth. We fire up the browser (again), log-in to NetFlix (again), and once more select something to play. And this time.....
.....it WORKS. Yesss!!
I knew I'd get there eventually.
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You can find the current SFS build of Opera ( at this point in time, 65.0.3467.69) at the following location on my GoogleDrive:-
Current Opera browser
This will be its permanent home from now on. 64-bit only, unfortunately, I'm afraid....
Currently tested & working in Xenialpup64 7.5 and Bionicpup64 8.0. Feedback, as always, will be appreciated.
Enjoy.
Mike.
