HowTo: Gnash 0.8.5 in Debian Lenny

[jalu]

that might be a really dump question in your ears,but might it be that it is:
http://debian.jones.dk/tools/signkey/
and if yes, how would i add it ?
thanks again

[Soul Singin']

might it be that it is:
http://debian.jones.dk/tools/signkey/

Sorry. Those are Perl scripts.

I just spent half an hour trying to figure out how to get his key, but I have not been successful. In principle, it should be possible to get his Key ID from the MIT PGP Public Key Server and then run:

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$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-key C02440B8
$ gpg -a --export C02440B8 > jonas.key
$ su
Password:
# apt-key add jonas.key
# apt-get update
# apt-get install gnash mozilla-plugin-gnash gnash-cygnal gnash-tools

but he didn't sign the packages with that key. So just save yourself the headache and install it without authentication.

Once again, here are the steps. Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

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deb http://debian.jones.dk/ lenny gnash

Then run:

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apt-get update
apt-get install gnash mozilla-plugin-gnash gnash-cygnal gnash-tools

and ignore any warnings about authentication.

Finally, I mentioned this in other posts, but I'm not sure if it is at all comprehensible ...

• The version of Gnash in Debian Lenny (0.8.4) uses GStreamer.

• The version of Gnash that you will be installing from the "Jones repo" (0.8.5) uses FFmpeg and probably will not work if you installed the version of FFmpeg from Debian-Multimedia. (See my first post in this thread for details).

• To get around that problem, I compiled Gnash 0.8.5 against GStreamer. (See my second post in this thread for details).

Good Luck!
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[jalu]

Sorry. Those are Perl scripts.

i guess you know what i mean by saying it might sound dump.
lets hope it will be good for a bit of laughing.

thanks for your explanation.
as said in the other thread i`ll take my time to get it running, but i`m on the path. I guess the first thing i have to check is the gstreamer/ffmpeg thing you mentioned. (As said i did it brutal-force without any reading at all, so i really can`t complain. installing the nonfree-plugin also took me a while).
thanks again and greetings

[Soul Singin']

Flash Cookies: The Silent Privacy Killer

To purge those cookies:

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rm -r /home/XXXX/.adobe/
rm -r /home/XXXX/.macromedia/

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[jalu]

on lenny, iceweasel 3.0.6-1

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jalu$  dpkg -l *gnash* *gstreamer* | awk {'if ($1 == "ii") print $2 "\t\t" $3'}
gnash           0.8.5-1~0jones1
gnash-common            0.8.5-1~0jones1
gnash-cygnal            0.8.5-1~0jones1
gnash-tools             0.8.5-1~0jones1
gstreamer0.10-alsa              0.10.19-2
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg            0.10.4-3
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3               0.10.7.debian-1
gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs          0.10.19-2
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad               0.10.7-2
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base              0.10.19-2
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps         0.10.19-2
gstreamer0.10-plugins-good              0.10.8-4.1~lenny1
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly              0.10.8-1
gstreamer0.10-tools             0.10.19-3
gstreamer0.10-x         0.10.19-2
libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0         0.10.19-2
libgstreamer0.10-0              0.10.19-3
libgstreamer0.10-dev            0.10.19-3
mozilla-plugin-gnash            0.8.5-1~0jones1

i gave it another try this night:
i removed mozilla-flashplugin and ffmpeg and then installed the above. I`m getting
a white screen:


about:plugins:
File name: libgnashplugin.so
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r999. Gnash 0.8.5, the GNU SWF Player.

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application/x-shockwave-flash 	Shockwave Flash 	swf 	Yes

am i missing something obvious? Obviously yes, but what? thanks a lot.

[jalu]

ok, it did work. thanks

But, honestly, i have to say the graphic-display is a bit queasy. Lets hope i will get that solved/enhanced.

[Soul Singin']

ok, it did work. thanks

Glad it's working for you!

But, honestly, i have to say the graphic-display is a bit queasy. Lets hope i will get that solved/enhanced.

One of the fun things about using Gnash is that you see continuous evolution and improvements. When a new version comes out and Flash support improves, you feel rewarded (even if you didn't contribute a single line of code).

So hang in there. It will be interesting to see what their interns accomplish this summer.
.

[Soul Singin']

Dude! Jalu! ... Thank you!

You figured out how to make Gnash play high quality videos to work on YouTube! Thank you!

We had been struggling with this issue:

BTW. is it only me, or Gnash doesn't work with HD movies on YT? [:

Turns out that all you need to do is go to "Edit" >> "Preferences" >> click on the "Player" tab and enter:

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LNX 10,0,22,87

in the "Player version" field and YouTube videos will think that you're running the latest Adobe Flash. Then you can watch high-quality videos!

Thanks Jalu!


EDIT: ... Or at least that gives you the button. The video didn't actually play for me in high quality. Has anyone else had success?
.

[jalu]

well, i have figured out nothing. If so: it wasn`t my fault ( i guess the screenshot has given you a hint?) However: I will keep my eye on gnash and their site/man/doc`s from now on and try to learn how to use it. thanks for the help (and -btw- also for the how-to).
greetings

[jalu]

.
..., so instead I added:

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deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ sid main

to my /etc/apt/sources.list file.

Then I removed the Debian-Multimedia versions of FFmpeg and replaced them with Debian's own versions. The new version of Gnash uses the FFmpeg libraries, so you must use Debian's own FFmpeg packages:

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apt-get purge libavcodec51 libavformat52 libswscale0 libavutil49 libpostproc51 libavdevice52
apt-get install libavcodec51 libavformat52 libswscale0 libavutil49 libpostproc51 libavdevice52

Next, I ran:

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apt-get update
apt-get build-dep gnash swftools libtool
apt-get install fakeroot haxe libming-dev libming-util libming0 mtasc neko swfmill
apt-get clean

Note: You must backport libtool, otherwise the build will fail.

Then I created a directory for the build in my home directory and downloaded the source (as normal user):

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mkdir /home/XXXX/gnash/
cd gnash/
apt-get source gnash swftools libtool

Then I built backports of swftools and libtool for Debian Lenny:

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cd swftools-0.8.1
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc
cd ../libtool-2.2.6a
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc

and installed them:

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dpkg -i librfxswf-dev_0.8.1-2.1_i386.deb python-rfxswf_0.8.1-2.1_i386.deb swftools_0.8.1-2.1_i386.deb
dpkg -i libltdl7_2.2.6a-4_i386.deb libltdl-dev_2.2.6a-4_i386.deb libtool_2.2.6a-4_i386.deb libtool-doc_2.2.6a-4_all.deb
apt-get -f install

Finally, I built the gnash packages. (Note: the build took almost two hours).

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cd gnash-0.8.5/
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc

and installed the packages that do not require KDE4:

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dpkg -i gnash_0.8.5-1_i386.deb gnash-common_0.8.5-1_i386.deb gnash-cygnal_0.8.5-1_i386.deb gnash-tools_0.8.5-1_i386.deb mozilla-plugin-gnash_0.8.5-1_i386.deb
apt-get -f install

Upon experimentation, I discovered that Gnash only plays Flash videos when you use Debian's own FFmpeg libraries. If you use the version of FFmpeg in Debian-Multimedia, Gnash will not be able to play Flash videos.

Unfortunately, there's a trade-off here. If you see a Flash video that you like and save it as an FLV to your computer, you won't be able to use Debian's version of FFmpeg to encode it to MP3, MP4 or MPG for use with portable media devices. To do that you need to install the packages from Debian Multimedia.

The decision is yours. Have fun!
.

-might be its that obvious that it`s not worth mentioning it: but i had to install gsstreamer0.10-ffmpeg to get sound (i think for installing from the debian.jones.dk-repo it was the same, can`t remember).
(you know: after three hours the nerves are a bit down, it might be good to add the info- assuming its correct)

-rant-:
- i had no issues and am a a bit proud now (though i just entered what i`ve read step by step), but its good you added the 2hours-warning. you could add one for the(iirc) ~~dpkg-buildpackage libtool~~ too.

- for me its unclear what you mean by "libtool has to be backported" (as all went fine i assume it is done via "apt-get build-dep gnash swftools libtool", but it gave me a lot of resultless thinking and web-searching). i guess its just another hint with the fence-post for the manpages .

[Soul Singin']

.
Gnash 0.8.6 was released yesterday and is already in Sid. This is an important release because Gnash now supports SOME ActionScript 3 classes (i.e. it now supports SOME features of Flash v9/10 and AIR).
.

[Soul Singin']

Gnash 0.8.7 was released a few months ago. It's a big improvement over its predecessor, if only because it uses less memory and because videos no longer stutter when you begin playing them. As a test, I was able to play all of the (still available) videos on this page.

I was also happy to see that the Debian Developers once again compile Gnash against GStreamer.

And Debian Lenny users get to share in the fun too! Rob Savoye, the lead developer, has created backports of the latest stable release for Lenny and he has created weekly snapshots for Lenny.

YouTube has become a bit problematic again however. To play YouTube videos, you need to use a script for GreaseMonkey.

I also recommend faking Flash 10. To do that start any video, right-click, select "Edit," select "Preferences" and then go to "Player" tab. In the "Player Version" box, specify:

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LNX 10,0,99,0

One tip: If you're going to upgrade to the latest release (as opposed to the weekly snapshots), then you may want to download the DEBs and install them from a local repository (to quickly resolve missing dependencies).

To create a local repository, just download the DEBs to a directory, e.g. /home/xxxx/gnash/DEBs/, and run:

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cd /home/xxxx/gnash
dpkg-scanpackages DEBs  | gzip > DEBs/Packages.gz

Then add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

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deb file:/home/xxxx/gnash DEBs/

and run (as root):

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apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get clean

Have Fun!,
- Soul Singin'
.

[Hadret]

I guess latest news regarding release of WebM is actually a great information for Gnash, is it? Cause playing videos was the biggest issue for this project and now it will be (probably) switched to HTML5. In that case, all Linux users could use only open stuff (WebM + Gnash).

YouTube has become a bit problematic again however. To play YouTube videos, you need to use a script for GreaseMonkey.

Personally I'm using other script -- Youtube without Flash Auto and play videos using MPlayer (full screen works flawlessly).

[acimmarusti]

I'm trying out gnash 0.8.7 with squeeze. At first I couldn't play any youtube video, but after purging all youtube cookies and blocking them most videos play well. The big issue is that cpu usage is very high!...higher than adobe's flashplayer!...I'm confused!, I thought gnash was better at this...

[Soul Singin']

The big issue is that cpu usage is very high!...higher than adobe's flashplayer!...I'm confused!, I thought gnash was better at this...

No. Gnash has always consumed far more CPU than Adobe Flash. The recent release made big strides in reducing CPU usage, but it still uses more than Adobe Flash.
.

[acimmarusti]

Thanks for clarifying this.

I also have the issue that only a large set of youtube videos work....but when I try, say, espn, hulu, etc, I get nothing...
Is there some sort of list of websites that work ?

Thanks

[craigevil]

Thanks for clarifying this.

I also have the issue that only a large set of youtube videos work....but when I try, say, espn, hulu, etc, I get nothing...
Is there some sort of list of websites that work ?

Thanks

That is because most sites require flash 10 or flash 9.

Gnash supports the majority of Flash opcodes up to SWF version 7, and a wide sampling of ActionScript 2 classes for SWF version 8.5. SWF
version 9 and ActionScript 3 support is being worked on.

As fast as Adobe Flash changes Gnash is never going to catch up.

[acimmarusti]

I'm quite pleased with gnash for the moment, but I was getting annoyed by how slow some, flash heavy, websites run. So I found this cool addon for iceweasel/firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433/

It blocks all flash content by default and plays it at your will. This makes browsing flash heavy websites a lot easier. I've been testing it on two computers: one old pentium4 laptop 32-bit using the proprietary flash plugin and on my 64-bit laptop using gnash. It works great on both, but I have an annoying issue with the 64-bit laptop:

After browsing flash sites, if I want to shutdown my computer I get an annoying message saying that a process firefox-bin is not responding...this causes the shutdown time to increase dramatically. Upon running top I found no active firefox-bin process!...I went to Applications > System Tools > System Monitor and I finally found the culprit....a "sleeping" xulrunner-stub process. After killing it I was able to shutdown properly.

Anyone has this problem when using gnash + flashblock firefox addon ? I'll try to find more about it and post it back.

[acimmarusti]

I just realized this addon is in the debian repositories. I tried it from there and now I don't have any problems!

[Soul Singin']

I just installed Gnash 0.8.8 on Debian Lenny. To do it, I first installed libltdl7 (version: 2.2.6b-2~bpo50+1) from Backports, then I added the following line to my /etc/apt/sources.list file:

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deb http://www.getgnash.org/debs/debian lenny main

and ran:

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apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get clean

I think that repository is usually used for development snapshots however, so be careful of what you install from that repository and do not keep that repository in your sources list if you want to retain a stable version of Gnash.

Finally, a word from our sponsor:

Why Debian Users Think Gnash Sucks

After reading yet another blog post from a Debian user about why Gnash sucks, I need to rant. The problem is very simple, Debian has been shipping an ancient release of Gnash that was so old, very little worked with it anymore. This was due to several factors, but the end result was nobody was happy. I tried to work around this problem by building frequent snapshots as deb packages for Lenny on x86, amd64, and mipsel, which one can get from our own Gnash Debian repository

But most people never knew about this repository, so after a few seconds of staring at a blank window, they'd quickly drop Gnash and install the Adobe plugin. So much for being supporters of free software...

So after the efforts of several people over several months, the problems that kept Gnash from being updated have been fixed. Gnash is also available in Debian backports, and when the next release of 0.8.8 comes out in the next few days, it should be included. Many thanks to the volunteers that made this possible.

By rob at 2010-08-20 21:32 | rob's blog

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