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Plugins and Mozilla Firefox (Linux)

Plugin Basics

Where do I install plugins?

On Linux, plugins can be installed in three locations:

As a general rule, you should install plugins in your Firefox/plugins directory. Installing in the profiles directory is only recommended if you can not install plugins system-wide because of permissions issues.

How do I install Macromedia Flash Player?

Download Macromedia Flash Player 9. Packages are available for many distributions. Once downloaded, copy libflashplayer.so and flashplayer.xpt to your browser's plugins directory.

Further information, including known issues, is available from the Macromedia Flash Player FAQ.

[Download Flash Player 7] [Download Flash Player Packages]

How do I install Java?

If your distribution doesn't include it, Download and install JRE 1.4.2 or later. After your JRE is installed, open a terminal, change to your Mozilla Firefox plugins directory, and issue the following command: 

ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0_09/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so ./libjavaplugin_oji.so

If you are not using Sun JRE 1.5.0_09, and/or you installed your JRE at a different location, you will need to modify the command accordingly. Do not copy the plugin, otherwise Firefox will crash if you try viewing a page containing a Java applet.

Further information, including known issues, is available from the Java FAQ.

[Download Sun JRE 6.0]

How do I install Acrobat Reader?

To install the Acrobat Reader plugin, copy nppdf.so to your Mozilla plugins directory, and make sure a copy of (or symlink to) the acroread startup script is in your PATH.

Note: Adobe Reader 7.0 includes a script for installing the browser plugin, although it is not run by default when you install it. If you installed Adobe Reader 7.0 to the default location, this script is at the following location: 

/usr/local/Adobe/Acrobat7.0/Browser/install_browser_plugin

Further information, including known issues, is available from the Acrobat Reader FAQ.

Important! All users should upgrade to Acrobat Reader 7.0.9, as earlier versions of Acrobat Reader have security issues.

[Download Adobe Reader 7.0.9 (Tarball)] [Download Adobe Reader 7.0.9 (RPM)]

How do I install QuickTime, Shockwave or other Windows plugins?

At present, Linux versions of QuickTime, Macromedia Shockwave Player, and various other Windows browser plugins are not available. Many Windows browser plugins can be used by installing the CrossOver Plugin. Note that this is commercial (aka non-free) software.

How do I install other plugins?

Mozilla Firefox supports all the plugins that are supported by Mozilla 1.x. For information about installing other plugins, see PluginDoc for Linux.

Plugin Support Questions

What plugins can I use for streaming audio and video?

Depending on the format of the media you wish to view, you may be able to use any of the following:

The mplayer and xine plugins may require you to install Win32 codecs. For more information about this, see the documentation that came with your copy of mplayer or xine, as that is beyond the scope of this FAQ.

How do I stop Mozilla Firefox from prompting me to install a plugin?

  1. Open about:config, and set plugin.default_plugin_disabled to false.
  2. Delete the libnullplugin.so from your Mozilla Firefox plugins directory. You may have to do this as root if you do not have write access to your Mozilla Firefox installation from your user account.

Support Resources

I have a question that is not answered by this FAQ. Where can I ask it?

If you have a question that is not covered here, please search the MozillaZine forums to see if the problem has been mentioned before. If it hasn't, and the information contained in this FAQ and PluginDoc doesn't help, by all means post to the MozillaZine Forums.

How do I contribute information to this FAQ?

If you wish to contribute information to this FAQ, send an e-mail to Michael Hendy.

PluginDoc Plugins and Mozilla Firefox (Linux) FAQ
Maintained by Michael Hendy.
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