(solved) getflash.tce does not work with minefield-as-tcz

[tobiaus]

i usually install the getflash tce but don't run it, then copy the two *fl* files needed to /usr/local/firefox/plugins then flash is installed.

that's fine for minefield as tce, but as tcz, while it creates that path in the usual place, it only uses the path under the read-only /tmp/tcloop path.

attempting to create a symlink made no difference, as you cannot create a symlink in a read-only path. so i tried unmounting the minefield loop, creating the path under /tmp/tcloop, then remounting the tcz. (remounting the tcz is its own adventure.)

not surpisingly, this also did not work. right now, i'm trying to see if it's possible (i'm experimenting, more than i am asking) to get minefield installed as tce, despite it already being installed as a tcz. then perhaps i can use flash. the way you trick the tce system into loading tce's it's already loaded as tcz is to rename the tce you're trying to load to another name, like ff.tce.

i believe the way to fix this is simple. in the tcz version of minefield, do not create the plugins directory in the loop. it already (somehow) creates the proper plugins directory under /usr/local, so create a plugins symlink in the loop to the actual /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory.

as i said i tried it already, but it must be done in the plugin when it is created, once opened it is read-only. the way it is at the moment ought to prevent any plugins from being installed... probably less than desirable.

no longer applicable: the closest thing to a fix (not 100% tcz) is to download minefield.tce, rename to ff.tce, then install local ff.tce. even if you installed the rest of the extension from tcz this should let you get flash working, but i still think a symlink for plugins would be better for the next version of the minefield tcz if there is one.

[mikshaw]

Another option is to install the plugin in your home directory.  I don't know how close Minefield is to Firefox, but it should still create a configuration directory. You can try  to create a plugins directory there.

With Firefox: $HOME/.mozilla/plugins
I'm just assuming it should work the same with Minefield.

[^thehatsrule^]

I thought you don't need to install getflash if you've already generated the flash9 tce extension?

For now, if you still want a system-wide workaround, you should be able to remove the first symlink that points to /tmp/tcloop because it is on a RW fs, and then create the directory.

mikshaw: Minefield is fx, but unbranded (only official builds get the name afaik)

[MOVED thread to TCE Bugs]

[tobiaus]

sorry, i was sure i posted this in tce bugs, i meant to.

there's nothing rw about the plugins folder in the minefield tcz. if it was that simple, i would just copy the files there. that was the first thing i tried to do, as root. actually if you mount | grep loop | grep rw you get nothing.

there is no removing or symlinking i can do. the closest thing to a solution is to install most of minefield as a tcz, then i have to use renaming to trick tc into letting me install the single minefield.tce file. but that means i can't uninstall it without a reboot.

as for why install getflash, i ran that to see if it helped, but it didn't. as for just copying the two *fl* files to plugins (when it's tce anyway...) i know that's supposed to be enough, but at the very least, i get no sound that way (even with sound on from the oss menu.) installing but not running the getflash tce seems to help, i've never taken it apart to find out why.

edit: thanks mikshaw, i'll try that, even though the getflash plugin still isn't going to work for tcz users. they're going to need to use your manual solution, but it's far preferable to what i'm doing, and more resource efficient. i'll reboot before i attempt it.

[^thehatsrule^]

thought you were trying to do something else.. didn't think you were trying to write directly on /tmp/tcloop

As for getflash, I have no idea why that would change things, but the generated flash9.tce extension should probably be flash9.tcel to (auto)run ldconfig after.

The only problem for ~/.mozilla/plugins is that it will be only there for that user (and not for the whole system).

[tobiaus]

the logic is this: the getflash tce installs the needed files in a place that only works with minefield.tce. the only place i knew to copy the 2 files to is /usr/local/firefox/plugins (and i've made so many attempts to get flash working prior to tc, i didn't think putting it anywhere else would help. in tc with tce, it just works!)

but putting them there isn't seen by minefield, if minefield is tcz. it seems to rely on /tmp/tcloop/the/same/subpath/just/mentioned.

so it made sense to try to move the files from /the/usual/subpath to /tmp/tcloop/the/usual/subpath. naturally that didn't work. however, moving them to ~/.mozilla/plugins works for this!

i am now going to confirm that this works for both minefield.tce and minefield.tcz, having only tried the latter. i am also going to confirm whether you still need to install (but not run) getflash, as i've tried to do it without it before.

but this still may pose a problem for the minefield tcz extension! we may have figured out how to manually get flash working (and potentially fix getflash) but what about other extensions, say... noscript? i'll try to install that right now. edit: noscript installed through the normal procedure. maybe only getflash needs adapting.

okay, here's the new information:

reboot

step 1: get / install minefield from appbrowser, tce
step 2: run minefield, close
step 3: get / install oss from appbrowser, tce, sound on from menu
step 4: mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins && cp *fl* (2 files, one .so one .xpt) to ~/.mozilla/plugins
step 5: run minefield, youtube.com... there is no sound (very zen) so restart minefield, try again. no. close.
step 6: using appbrowser, install getflash.tce but do not run it (it would download a 100mb file, you only need about 6)
step 7: open minefield, now you have sound.

reboot

step 1: get / install minefield from appbrowser, TCZ
step 2: run minefield, close
step 3: get / install oss from appbrowser, TCZ, sound on from menu
step 4: mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins && cp *fl* (2 files, one .so one .xpt) to ~/.mozilla/plugins (again)
step 5: run minefield, youtube.com... there is no sound (very zen) so restart minefield, try again. no. close.
step 6: using appbrowser, install getflash.tce (there is no tcz) but do not run it (it would download a 100mb file, you only need about 6)
step 7: open minefield, now you have sound.

conclusion: the getflash extension, if possible, should put the 2 needed files in /home/tc/.mozilla/plugins so that it will work with both minefield.tce and minefield.tcz. otherwise files will need to be moved by the user to make flash work with the latter.

[roberts]

Not too good for multiuser. single user ok. Probably minefield.tcz should have an embedded user.tar.gz

[^thehatsrule^]

Looked into the tcz a bit more... found a workaround that may be simpler.

Remove the firefox-bin symlink then copy the original into its place, i.e. as root,

Code: [Select]

cd /usr/local/firefox && rm firefox-bin && cp -p /tmp/tcloop/minefield/`pwd`/firefox-bin .or recreate the extension with a user.tar.gz.  My guess at an explanation is that firefox-bin follows the symlinked path, and doesn't see the plugins dir, despite the settings in the startup script.

[roberts]

By definition the user.tar.gz is for those areas that need write access.
The user.tar.gz is what I created for the same kind of issues with DSL's  read-only UCI.

Otherwise you will need a startup script to remove and copy every time it is loaded.
Startup scripts are supported, but why remove and copy every time. Do it once.

[tobiaus]

Not too good for multiuser. single user ok. Probably minefield.tcz should have an embedded user.tar.gz

well my first idea was to replace the plugins directory in the tcz's /usr/local/firefox/ directory with symlink to the real /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory. then by the time the tcz was mounted ro as /tmp/tcloop/usr/local/firefox/plugins it would be no problem for getflash to write to plugins, though that may be a nightmare from the pristine loops point of view. (?) what i can't figure out is how minefield.tcz ever installed the noscript plugin! (it should be just as impossible... not that i'm complaining, i'm glad it did.)

[^thehatsrule^]

what i can't figure out is how minefield.tcz ever installed the noscript plugin! (it should be just as impossible... not that i'm complaining, i'm glad it did.)

Since you run it as a user it probably stores it in ~/.mozilla.  Anyways, I hope the workaround works for you for now.

[tobiaus]

Anyways, I hope the workaround works for you for now.

yes thank you both, it's brilliant. last year i finally replaced windows with linux, in the next year or two i hope to replace everything i use xubuntu for with tc. i am actually using xubuntu right now, but these days i use tc almost exclusively. there's nothing wrong with using other distros, but i prefer to use the ones that are say, 300mb at most, decent when run as a livecd, and and preferably more like 150mb or lower in size. xubuntu is a good distro, but meets none of those criteria. phasing out .tce whenever possible and using .tcz is important.

[Jason W]

Placing the real firefox-bin in /usr/local/firefox as mentioned works for me also for getting flash working.  The /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory used by the minefield.tcz is read/write, as all tcz's have their directories created as real ones rather than symlinks pointing into /tmp/tcloop.  With firefox-bin as a real file, I simply copied the libflashplayer.so plugin to /usr/local/firefox/plugins and all was well.  Perhaps /usr/local/firefox/firefox-bin can be placed in a user.tar.gz in the public extension if it does not break anything else.

[tobiaus]

The /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory used by the minefield.tcz is read/write,

the /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory seems to be ignored by minefield.tcz. copying the libflashplayer.so there (and the related .xpt file) does nothing when you are running minefield.tcz.

...as all tcz's have their directories created as real ones rather than symlinks pointing into /tmp/tcloop.

i wanted it the other way around, for the loop to symlink to the real directory, so minefield could see it. obviously this is not an issue with the tce version.

if your solution can be used to fix getflash (or minefield.tcz) great. it seems like a very odd way to fix it, but then you probably think the same thing about my proposed solution (which i have no way of proving anyway.) i'm almost certain neither one of us understands the other regarding our proposed solutions, either. not that it matters, only that minefield.tcz and getflash both work. as it is, i can get flash working with minefield.tcz, by copying to ~/.mozilla/plugins instead of /usr/local/...

[^thehatsrule^]

The /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory used by the minefield.tcz is read/write,

the /usr/local/firefox/plugins directory seems to be ignored by minefield.tcz. copying the libflashplayer.so there (and the related .xpt file) does nothing when you are running minefield.tcz.

The workaround I posted allows for the plugins to be seen here.

...as all tcz's have their directories created as real ones rather than symlinks pointing into /tmp/tcloop.

i wanted it the other way around, for the loop to symlink to the real directory, so minefield could see it. obviously this is not an issue with the tce version.

This could work as well, but it would still need an user.tar.gz (for the plugins stuff).  However, there may be other things may be affected by 'wrong' paths - so I think that using the non-symlinked firefox-bin would be better atm.