fixed: firefox3 plugins (flash) don't work [was: Re: swfdec-plugin]

[Steve Franks]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Chad Perrin <perrin at apotheon.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 01:08:35PM -0700, Steve Franks wrote:
>> Anyone get swfdec-plugin to work?  Doesn't show up in firefox3's list
>> of plugins (neither does mplayer-plugin or gnash).  Does port
>> installation order matter?   Do I have to delete .firefox or some
>> other slight-of-hand?
>
> Oh, one other thing:
>
> Do you have a symlink to:
>
>  /usr/local/lib/browser_plugins/libswfdecmozilla.so
>
> . . . in your $HOME/.mozilla/plugins/ directory?
>
> --
> Chad Perrin [ content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
> Quoth Steve McConnell: "Good code is its own best documentation.  As
> you're about to add a comment, ask yourself, 'How can I improve the code
> so that this comment isn't needed?'"
>

Ok, so here's the correct way to fix this, I'm pretty sure:

1) You install firefox as root.  When you log in as user, there is no
~/.mozilla/plugins; instead of making that folder and symlinking to
swfdec in it, you should symlink:

ln -s /usr/local/lib/browser_plugins ~/.mozilla/plugins

2) You are halfway there.  I submitted a change-request to the
swfdec-plugin port to do this, but until then,

sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/browser_plugins/swfdec-plugin/libswfdecmozilla.so
/usr/local/lib/browser_plugins/swfdec

No idea how firefox would automatically make the plugin link in your
home folder, so there's no fix for that.  The swfdec source has just
been updated (12/20/2008) and purportedly works with the likes of
youtube, so it seems like a good flash solution for FreeBSD at the
moment.  It worked on the flash site I was trying to visit, and the
adobe flash test page.

Hope this helps some newbie(s) in the future...

Best,
Steve