====== Flash Player ======

[[http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer.html|Flash Player]] is, in most forms, a web browser plugin used primarily to play videos, games, advertisements and particularly gaudy websites. It is owned by [[http://www.adobe.com/|Adobe]], and is proprietary software.

Because of some parts of it's nature (it can be unstable, it is updated frequently, and these updates often are to fix security holes), it is not included in a default installation of Slackware. A [[http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/multimedia/flash-player-plugin/|SlackBuild]] exists to install it, and there are [[http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/flashplayer-plugin/|packages]] available on AlienBOB's FTP server. Both of these solutions are for Mozilla browsers only (Firefox, Thunderbird and Seamonkey).

 [[howtos:software:google-chrome|Google Chrome]] comes integrated with an up-to-date version automagically. If you prefer Chromium as your browser, you can download the [[http://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/people/alien/slackbuilds/chromium-pepperflash-plugin/|chromium-pepperflash-plugin package]] which contains the Flash library as extracted from the official Google Chrome binaries. This plugin package will work out of the box with AlienBOB's own [[http://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/people/alien/slackbuilds/chromium/|chromium package]].

If you are using [[slackware:opera|Opera]], you will have to download and install it manually.
====== Installation ======

Getting Flash Player on your computer is mostly just putting a file in the right directory, but it is different for every browser. 

If you plan on using only the browsers bundled with Slackware, the SlackBuilds mentioned above are by far the simplest to install and maintain, thus they are recommended.

===== Mozilla browsers and Opera =====

If you would like to maintain it yourself, or you use Opera, you will need to:

  - Go to Flash's [[http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/multimedia/flash-player-plugin/|download]] page.
  - Click on the link "Different operating system or browser?"
  - Under the box labeled "Select an operating system", pick either "Linux (64-bit)" or "Linux (32-bit)", depending on your architecture.
  - Under the box labeled "Select version to download..." select "Flash Player xx.x for other linux .tar.gz (xx-bit)", then hit Download.
  - Unpack the newly downloaded .tar.gz file.

This will give you something like this:
<code>
darkstar:$ ls
install_flash_player_11_linux.i386.tar.gz
libflashplayer.so
readme.txt
usr
</code>

With adjustments to names depending on your architecture, of course. In any case, the file ''libflashplayer.so'' is the important bit. You will want to move that file into the correct directory for your browser.

For Mozilla browsers:

  * System-wide location is in the directory: ''/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins''
  * Per-user location is in the directory: ''$HOME/.mozilla/plugins''

For Opera:

  * System-wide location is in the directory: ''/usr/lib/opera/plugins''
  * Per-user location is in the directory: ''$HOME/.local/lib/opera/plugins''

Please note that Opera has no standard system-wide install point - the system-wide install path for ''libflashplayer.so'' is wherever Opera is installed, in a directory named ''plugins''. 

Either browser should then pick it up and start using it automatically. Don't be afraid to create the ''plugins'' folder in either case if it does not already exist. To uninstall, simply delete ''libflashplayer.so''.

===== Additional Goodies =====

You may have noticed that, after unpacking the Flash Player, there are quite a few files aside from ''libflashplayer.so'', each of which you may or may not want to install. 

First off is ''readme.txt'', which contains a few pearls of wisdom and is worth a quick read.

Aside from that is a directory called ''usr'', which contains some .desktop files, icons and a program for configuring Flash Player. It is worth installing, and primarily exists for KDE integration. Simply doing this:

<code>
darkstar:$ su
Password:
darkstar:# ls
install_flash_player_11_linux.i386.tar.gz
libflashplayer.so
readme.txt
usr
darkstar:# cp -r usr/* /usr
</code>

However, it is completely optional, as the defaults for Flash Player are fine. 

====== Sources ======
http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=108086
{{tag>software howtos}}