** Description changed: - pepperflashplugin-nonfree downloads the Chrome for Linux Debian package (.deb) from Google and extracts the Flash PPAPI plugin (libpepflashplayer.so) to make it available to other browsers system-wide. - pepperflashplugin-nonfree is broken since Google stopped shipping Flash with Chrome 54 for Linux. - pepperflashplugin-nonfree will probably need to look somewhere else online for libpepflashplayer.so. + [Impact] - A Chrome user reported the missing Flash plugin in Chrome 54 beta. A Chromium developer answered that the Chrome browser is not bundled with the Flash plugin anymore. It seems that a Flash plugin still exists for Chrome but the user must now install it manually. Source: - https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=645687 + Pepperflashplugin-nonfree is a Debian package, slightly modified for + Ubuntu, and available in multiverse, that downloads the PPAPI Flash + plugin from Google (up to v1.8.3 in Debian and v1.8.2+nmu1ubuntu1 in + Ubuntu 16.10) or Adobe (starting with v1.8.3+nmu1 in Debian and + v1.8.3+nmu1ubuntu1 in Ubuntu 17.04), and installs it as /usr/lib + /pepperflashplugin-nonfree/libpepflashplayer.so. - Here you can see the relevant change in the build script; only ChromeOS gets libpepflashplayer.so bundled with Chrome: - https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/366d572053dd85c8eeda802f423716d9b008fe01%5E%21/#F0 + Versions that download the PPAPI plugin from Google are currently broken + since Google decided to unbundle the plugin from Chrome 54, released in + late 2016-10. Until that date, ripping the PPAPI plugin from a download + of Google Chrome (which comes as a .deb package) was a popular way to + get it, and the only possible way on Linux in the early days of the + PPAPI plugin, when it was only available to Google. Then Adobe made the + Linux PPAPI plugin available to Canonical and on their download site. - (side note: https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/ offers - Windows and Mac versions but no ChromeOS version) + The Debian package was changed to download the plugin from Adobe, in + version 1.8.3+nmu1 on 2017-01-14, and that fix landed in + 1.8.3+nmu1ubuntu1 in Ubuntu 17.04 (the current development release) on + 2017-01-22. + + The package is still broken in the published releases: 16.10 16.04 + 14.04. It could be repaired by merging the changes made between + 1.8.3ubuntu1 and 1.8.3+nmu1ubuntu1 into the published releases' versions + of the package. + + This would qualify for an SRU because the bug comes from a change in a + web service that made the package stop being installable. This change + also causes a security vulnerability in so far as the Flash plugin can + no longer be updated (updates were processed by downloading a new + version of Google Chrome and extracting the bundled Flash plugin). + + [Test Case] + + On Ubuntu < 17.04, installation and reinstallation of pepperflashplugin- + nonfree (v < 1.8.3+nmu1ubuntu1) fails. On Ubuntu 17.04 (v = + 1.8.3+nmu1ubuntu1), it succeeds. + + [Regression Potential] + + I can't think of any. The new version has been in Debian Sid for one + month without any report of a regression, so that's a good sign. It was + initially tested in debbug 833741. + + [Why not to SRU] + + On the one hand, it's bad form to leave an utterly broken package in the + published releases when it has been fixed in the development release and + works there. Theoretically, SRUs should be performed. + + On the other hand, pepperflashplugin-nonfree is The Debian's Way to + install the PPAPI Flash plugin. Ubuntu users are recommended to install + adobe-flashplugin from Canonical's partner repository instead. Not all + Ubuntu users are aware of that. See: + + https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/net-install-flash.html + https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Chromium/Getting-Flash + + We can consider intentionally not fixing that package in the published + releases, in which case this bug report should be marked Won't Fix in + Yakkety, Xenial, Trusty.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1632870 Title: Package is broken since Google stopped shipping Flash with Chrome 54 for Linux To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pepperflashplugin-nonfree/+bug/1632870/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
