How to Install Adobe Flash in Debian Etch/Lenny/Sid
Posted by Admin on December 19th, 2008
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Method 1
If you run Etch you will want to use backport.org
First you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file using the following command
#nano /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following line
deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free
save and exit the file.
Update the source list using the following command
#apt-get update
All backports are deactivated by default. If you want to install something from backports run:
#apt-get -t etch-backports install “packagename”
If you are using etch and you want apt to verify the downloaded backports you can import backports.org archive’s key into apt:
#apt-get install debian-backports-keyring
If you want to get your packages from backports upgraded automatically the following entry in /etc/apt/preferences should be sufficient:
Package: *
Pin: release a=etch-backports
Pin-Priority: 200
Once you have backports all set up do one of the following commands
#apt-get update
#apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
Method 2
Using debian-multimedia.org repo
First you need to download the debian-multimedia-keyring package from here
Install using the following command
#dpkg -i debian-multimedia-keyring_2008.10.16_all.deb
you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file using the following command
#nano /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following lines which is suitable for you
For etch (stable) alpha, amd64, hppa, i386, ia64, powerpc and sparc packages
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch main
or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org etch main
or
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org stable main or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org stable main
For lenny (testing) alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mipsel, powerpc and sparc packages
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org lenny main
or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org lenny main
or
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org testing main
For sid (unstable) alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mipsel, powerpc and sparc packages.
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org sid main or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org sid main
For experimental amd64, i386 and powerpc packages. transcode, k9copy and kplayer (Qt4 version) and mjpegtools packages.
The official Debian experimental repository isn’t needed.
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org experimental main or
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org experimental main
For source
deb-src http://www.debian-multimedia.org sid main or
deb-src ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org sid main
Install flash player using the following command
#apt-get install flashplayer-mozilla
Once you have flash installed you can check in Iceweasel by entering about:plugins in the address bar. It should show something like:
Shockwave Flash
File name: /usr/lib/flashplayer-mozilla/libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 10.0.12.36
The above works for Iceweasel, Opera, Epiphany, and Midori


December 19th, 2008 at 3:09 am
> Flash Player is a cross-platform browser plug-in that delivers breakthrough Web experiences to over 98% of Internet users.
It is since rrrrrrencently but it has been a Windows only platform for quite a long time.
Currently, I have only one official mirror in my sources.list file, using sid, and I have the package installed. It’s probably in the non-free section :
deb ftp://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/debian unstable main contrib non-free
December 19th, 2008 at 11:41 am
What, no mention of the free software alternatives and how Adobe Flash surrenders freedom?
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I last used http://www.gnash.org/ at version 0.8.3, it’s a free opensource SWF/FLV
. There’s a http://packages.debian.org/gnash
.
viewer and there’s a plugin for Firefox/Konq {mozilla|konqueror}-\
plugin-gnash]. The non-GL version with a standard video xserver
works fine for SWF-enabled websites, although youtube vids are quite
slow and the sound support is iffy. The GL version [of gnash] with a GLX
video driver works somewhat better but IMHO it still needs some
serious work, wish I was a better coder
of 0.8.2-2 for Etch available. BTW gnash is opensource
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
thanks, the apt install with the backports keyring worked instantly, i cut and pasted ~6 of your command lines and closed and reopened iceweasel, and bam.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
This is one of those things that bugs me- I’m using Kubuntu 8.04 64 bit on my main box (Lenny and Etch 32 bit on my others). There is a beta 64 bit flash plugin that adobe has released (the first 64 bit native plugin for *any* platform- yeah Adobe!).
The installations was- download, put it in the plugin directory. No need to add repositories, et. al.- just copy a single file to the right place.
Solaris and Linux 64 bit Flash plugin.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
i have worked with lenny + multimedia for a while. I installed flash update when it was launched, but after the first run, iceweacel and minefield (firefox 3.1) stop showing flash contents and only show a gray area. I tryed a couple times, but it always happens the same thing, so i’m “stuck” in 9
January 6th, 2009 at 1:18 am
One could simply enable the contrib and nonfree sources in debian sid . Then simply run an apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree . Then simply comment out the sid repo when your done.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
If all else fails, download install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz from Adobe, decompress, cd to resulting directory, then run as root:
./flashplayer-installer
Tell it to install in /usr/lib/iceweasel (and/or where ever else you want).
Works for me.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:42 am
It may be cross-platform, but from what I’ve seen in this article, only i386 and amd64 cpu architectures are currently supported by Adobe. (I’ve used some Adobe plug-ins for Solaris on sun4m SPAC CPUs in the past but doubt that new versions have been written in recent years).
January 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
As a note on lenny:
After adding the debian-multimedia repos, I had to
apt-get remove swfdec-mozillaand restart mozilla to see Flash player 10 in IceweaselFebruary 11th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I had version 9 working and wanted to install version 10, but this results in:
.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4′ not found (required by .mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so)
So I followed method one described here in the hope the HOWTO works around the problem. It ends with a download of version 9. Its not even installed
So for Debian stable it looks like Flash 10 is neraly inpossible to use.
February 17th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I’ve just installed flash 10 on Lenny AMD64 by getting the 64bit tar.gz from Adobe, uncompressing it and copying to /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins (I had to create the plugins dir). Works like a champ so far…
April 9th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Thx, I was using nspluginwrapper but I had some issues, the flash animation overlap everything near to it. Monday I update my debian+kde4 and boom!!!, flash stop working, your solution is neat and works perfectly, Thx again
April 29th, 2009 at 7:03 am
I did the same as Jaime Andres, (http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html), and it works!
June 13th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I have this trouble now, I even rebooted the pc:
http://img140.imageshack.us/i/flashlenny.jpg/
with installing as :
Get:1 http://debian-multimedia.org lenny/main flashplayer-mozilla 1:10.0.22.87-0.1 [3963kB]
Fetched 3963kB in 11s (357kB/s)
(Reading database … 185383 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing flashplugin-nonfree …
Processing triggers for man-db …
Selecting previously deselected package flashplayer-mozilla.
(Reading database … 185373 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking flashplayer-mozilla (from …/flashplayer-mozilla_1%3a10.0.22.87-0.1_i386.deb) …
Setting up flashplayer-mozilla (1:10.0.22.87-0.1) …
any ideas?
September 7th, 2009 at 6:55 am
Frenchn00b:
You should double check what and where it was installed by using command :
dpkg -L flashplayer-mozilla
and copy over *so file you’ll see from previous output to :
~/.mozilla/plugins/
Somehow flashplayer-mozilla package is using wrong directory for *so file.