Re: [gentoo-user] Managing FF/TB plugins in Gentoo

[Walter Dnes]

On Sat, Sep 17, 2005 at 10:16:11AM -0700, Kevin O'Gorman wrote

> There are two versions of the Java plugin listed, with the same
> libjavaplugin_oji.so filename. The latest is Java 1.5.0_04b05.
>
> There are two versions of Flash listed, also with one and the same
> filename: libflashplayer.so.
>
> The crux: are there really two versions installed? Should I clean
> this up?  If so, how? Is this a Gentoo portage artifact, or does
> this happen in other distros as well?

  I noticed recently that there are now two plugin directories, namely
/usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins and /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins

  I assume that the "nsbrowser" directory is a holdover from the old
days of Netscape 4.x.  I would suggest...
  1) Close Firefox
  2) su - (or login as root on another tty)
  2) *MAKE SURE TO COPY OVER ANY PLUGINS FROM THE nsbrowser DIRECTORY
THAT AREN'T DUPLICATED IN THE mozilla-firefox DIRECTORY*
  3) Rename /usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins to /usr/lib/nsbrowser/oldplugins
and log out of root
  4) Restart Firefox.  You should have one copy of each plugin.  If
things go OK, you can remove the "oldplugins" directory later.

> Also: I would like the Adobe Acrobat plugin, but
> 1) I don't see it in 'eix' or 'emerge -s'.
> 2) The instructions for installing from an existing Acrobat install
> are not effective with the portage-installed acrobat.

  According to http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux.html#Acrobat
   1. Install Adobe Reader.
   2. Create a symbolic link to nppdf.so to your Mozilla plugins directory.
   3. Ensure a copy of acroread is in your PATH.

  You've already done step 1.  Next...
  - close Firefox
  - su - or log in as root
  - execute "find / -name nppdf.so" (without the quotes)
  - ln -s full_path_to_nppdf.so /usr/lib/nsbrowser/oldplugins/
    *NOTE* replace "full_path_to_nppdf.so" with the actual full path and
    file name
  - log out of root and start Firefox

> Alternatively, Adobe Reader 7.0 includes a script for installing the
> browser plugin. This script is installed at the following location
> by default:
>
> /usr/local/Adobe/Acrobat7.0/Browser/install_browser_plugin

  Of course, it'll likely be in a different location in Gentoo.  As root
execute the command...

find / -name install_browser_plugin

and that should tell you where it is.  I'm not giving you the location,
because I don't have Adobe installed, so I don't know where files are
kept.  Adobe's a bleeping pain in the rear with a significant chunk of
screen space taken up by useless toolbars and outright advertising.  I
use xpdf as a "helper-application".  I like its minimalist look.  It's a
pdf-viewer that concentrates on... *VIEWING A PDF*.  What a novel idea!

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
My musings on technology and security at http://tech_sec.blog.ca
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