How do I get a flash player plug into Camino?

[cflawson]

What if you install the Flash plugin via the actual Installer script rather than using the "Install Flash" icon (or whatever Adobe calls it these days)? Before I got rid of Flash, I switched to that method, and I was much happier...for one thing, because I could keep browsers running while installing and because I didn't have to worry about their craptastic installer quitting non-browser apps without warning.

cl

[Uncle Asad]

The Adobe Flash player crappy installer writes and locks the version 'somewhere' (I've no idea where)

In the Receipts folder: /Library/Receipts/Adobe\ Flash\ Player.pkg Deleting that allows you to install any version of Flash with impunity without having to resort to the Uninstaller.

As you and cflawson mentioned, that's only one of the annoyances of installing Flash, but it's one that can be worked around relatively easily.

I also always run the Adobe Flash Player.pkg installer inside the Adobe installer (ideally I'd just use a package-expanding tool like Pacifist or unpkg, but I haven't found a tool that will decompress the plug-in's .lzma file, nor have I figured out Adobe's binary postflight script; it's a Cocoa app!)

[phiw13]

The Adobe Flash player crappy installer writes and locks the version 'somewhere' (I've no idea where)

In the Receipts folder: /Library/Receipts/Adobe\ Flash\ Player.pkg Deleting that allows you to install any version of Flash with impunity without having to resort to the Uninstaller.

Oh. Why. Didn't turn up in my search . That simplifies the instructions a little bit. Still cumbersome… (I'll update the instructions)

What if you install the Flash plugin via the actual Installer script rather than using the "Install Flash" icon (or whatever Adobe calls it these days)?

Nope, the Adobe Flash Player.pkg doesn't allow it (clicking the 'Change Install Location' button loops back to the default without showing a Save dialog window that would allow to select a different location).

I once tried the same as Uncle Asad (bursting open the whole bundle with Pacifist) - only to find that the actual plugin is inside a .lzma file, which can't be opened - it is I suspect a variant on gzip but with a proprietary flag somewhere.

[Uncle Asad]

What if you install the Flash plugin via the actual Installer script rather than using the "Install Flash" icon (or whatever Adobe calls it these days)?

Nope, the Adobe Flash Player.pkg doesn't allow it (clicking the 'Change Install Location' button loops back to the default without showing a Save dialog window that would allow to select a different location).

If one has the Developer Tools, presumably one could use PackageMaker to rewrite the package to be relocatable (or to specify a different install location), but I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe's postflight app has hard-coded paths and you'd still end up with just the .lzma archive in the new location.

I once tried the same as Uncle Asad (bursting open the whole bundle with Pacifist) - only to find that the actual plugin is inside a .lzma file, which can't be opened - it is I suspect a variant on gzip but with a proprietary flag somewhere.

The Unarchiver supposedly handles .lzma archives, but I've never had any success using it to decompress the plug-in .lzma, either

[Drayon]

Any other suggestions? I've done everything suggested so far.

I checked now - Camino black-lists every Flash version below Flash 10.3.184

PS - I suspect Chrome is using its internal version of Flash, rather than the centrally installed one.

Is this version above accurate? The latest version that is displayed when searching adobe's site is '10.3.183.5', likewise with macupdate
Where are ppl finding 10.3.184?

[phiw13]

Any other suggestions? I've done everything suggested so far.

I checked now - Camino black-lists every Flash version below Flash 10.3.184

Is this version above accurate? The latest version that is displayed when searching adobe's site is '10.3.183.5', likewise with macupdate
Where are ppl finding 10.3.184?

Flash 10.3.184 was the most recent version at time of writing. Adobe released an update (10.3.183.5) last week wednesday or so.

For older versions, you may want to check:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.h ... d_versions

(note that 10.3.184 is not blacklisted, even after the most recent update - some people on the 'net are reporting problem with the most recent versions, independently of browser)

[dirkbill]

All versions of Flash 10 below Flash 10.3.184 are vulnerable to a security hole that is actively-exploited to steal users' passwords from high-value sites like Gmail. As a result, we have prevented these versions of Flash from being loaded in Camino 2.1 on Intel, and users should use upgrade to a version of Flash without known exploits.

On PPC, where Adobe dropped support with Flash 10.1 and where there are no non-exploitable versions, we enabled Flashblock since, unfortunately, it's not reasonably possible to completely block all versions of the Flash plug-in (ideally we'd show a warning to PPC users on first launch of 2.1).

I'm a bit surprised Firefox and Chrome haven't blocked these same insecure versions of Flash…

That said, is this Sitegrinder2 program something that runs in the browser using the Flash plug-in, or is it a regular Mac app that happens to depend on Flash somehow? If Sitegrinder2 is a regular desktop app, then you could try installing Flash 10.3 in the Internet Plug-Ins folder inside your Camino profile (~/Library/Application Support/Camino) rather than in the global Internet Plug-Ins folder and Camino will use 10.3.

I have updated Camino twice recently (up to 2.0.9) and each time on relaunch I have landed on Camino's home page where I am told I have an outdated version of Flash. I'm on a G5 iMac running OS 10.4.11, and after much wrangling and gnashing of teeth I have discovered which version of Flash still runs correctly on my machine (10.1r82 I think) since every update I try has failed, mostly because I am not on an Intel machine. It seems to be easy to discover I have an "old" version of Flash but nobody warns me about my "old" version of MacOS on an "old" PPC, and certain Flash updates will load but work like crap. I know nothing of the system beyond the basics but I do know how to find all the rest of us miserable folks on the web with the same problem. One solution may be to upgrade to OS 10.5, but that's another headache (even finding it is near impossible). So I would just say that perhaps Camino shouldn't encourage people to "download the latest version of Flash" without qualifying the fact that it may not or doesn't work with older systems. I know, get a new machine and a new OS! One day I will be forced to I suppose.

[Uncle Asad]

I'm on a G5 iMac running OS 10.4.11, and after much wrangling and gnashing of teeth I have discovered which version of Flash still runs correctly on my machine (10.1r82 I think) since every update I try has failed, mostly because I am not on an Intel machine.

The latest version of Flash for 10.4/10.5 PPC is 10.1.102.64, and Camino will warn you if you are not using that version.

[dirkbill]

I'm on a G5 iMac running OS 10.4.11, and after much wrangling and gnashing of teeth I have discovered which version of Flash still runs correctly on my machine (10.1r82 I think) since every update I try has failed, mostly because I am not on an Intel machine.

The latest version of Flash for 10.4/10.5 PPC is 10.1.102.64, and Camino will warn you if you are not using that version.

Thank you, Uncle! I will try that version.

[peterpqa]

All versions of Flash 10 below Flash 10.3.184 are vulnerable to a security hole ... try installing Flash 10.3 in the Internet Plug-Ins folder inside your Camino profile (~/Library/Application Support/Camino) rather than in the global Internet Plug-Ins folder and Camino will use 10.3.

Hope this hasn't already been asked and answered... The Adobe website's "Archived Flash Player versions" page does not include 10.3.184. However, the date on 10.3.183.20 is 6/08/2012. Did Adobe fix the security hole in 10.3.183.20, and is it safe to use with Camino 2.1.2?

In the Receipts folder: /Library/Receipts/Adobe\ Flash\ Player.pkg Deleting that allows you to install any version of Flash ... run the Adobe Flash Player.pkg installer inside the Adobe installer

I'm running OS X 10.6.8, and I can't find that file, either in the system's Library/Receipts folder or in my user's Library/Receipts folder (there's hardly anything in either one). The system's receipts folder does have an InstallHistory.plist file that has multiple entries for Flash. Do I have to edit that file to permit a custom 10.3 install for Camino? If so, how?

Once I'm able to install Flash 10.3, can I point the installer at my user's Library/Application Support/Camino/Internet Plug-Ins folder, so it will put 10.3 there and leave the existing "global" Flash 11 installation completely untouched?

[phiw13]

The Adobe website's "Archived Flash Player versions" page does not include 10.3.184. However, the date on 10.3.183.20 is 6/08/2012. Did Adobe fix the security hole in 10.3.183.20, and is it safe to use with Camino 2.1.2?

You are right that the latest version of Flash 10.3 is 10.3.183.20. You can easily access the latest one by going to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/, select the 'other OS…' link (whatever the exact text is in English, Adobe redirect me to the FR page as my OS runs in French), then in the dropdown, select 10.4/10.5.

I'm running OS X 10.6.8, and I can't find that file, either in the system's Library/Receipts folder or in my user's Library/Receipts folder (there's hardly anything in either one). The system's receipts folder does have an InstallHistory.plist file that has multiple entries for Flash. Do I have to edit that file to permit a custom 10.3 install for Camino? If so, how?

Indeed, apparently Adobe doesn't leave anything in there (at least on 10.6.8).

Once I'm able to install Flash 10.3, can I point the installer at my user's Library/Application Support/Camino/Internet Plug-Ins folder, so it will put 10.3 there and leave the existing "global" Flash 11 installation completely untouched?

No. The Adobe Flash installer is too brain dead stupid and only allows installation in /Library/Internet Plugins. Your best course of action is (if you have Flash 11 installed): download the uninstaller from this adobe page, uninstall Flash 11 (make a backup of your Flash data in ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/ if you feel the need to), install 10.3, move the 2 files from /Library/Internet Plugins to your Camino user folder, then reinstall Flash 11.

Personally, I don't bother with that last step, the only persons viewing Flash content only use Camino; on the other systems & user accounts, I don't have Flash installed at all.

---
BTW - something new on the Adobe download page. After you start the download, you get the 'thank you…' page and they put ads there (blocked, but anyway). They are sinking lower and lower.

[peterpqa]

Okay, where did I go wrong?

I went to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer, clicked on "Different operating system or browser?", selected "Mac OS X 10.4 - 10.5", selected the only available option: "Flash Player 10.3 for Mac OS X 10.4 - 10.5 (Intel)" and downloaded it. The version I got was 10.3.183.20 - not safe according to Uncle Asad.

I did manage to uninstall Flash Player, install 10.3.183.20 in the global plugins folder, move the Flash plugin file and the xpt file to Camino's plugins folder, then install Flash 11 in the global plugins folder.

So now, according to the browsers' respective "Help>Installed Plug-Ins" pages, I have Flash 11.3.300.257 for Safari, and Flash 10.3.183.20 for Camino - but not 10.3.184+ as recommended by Uncle Asad. And in Camino 2.1.2, when I Control+Click on an embedded video, the menu I get says, "About Adobe Flash Player 11.3.300.257". I thought that Flash 10.3.183.20 would load for Camino, but it doesn't appear to be true - even tho the plugins page says so.

What gives? And where can I get Flash 10.4/10.5?

[phiw13]

1. Flash 10.3.183.20 is the latest version. If Uncle Asad thinks that one is not safe, wel…. There are no Flash 10.3.184.xx on Adobe's site.
2. see it it helps to throw out the pluginreg.dat file (it worked on my side when I tested a long while ago, first installing Flash 10, then Flash 11. Camino would use Flash 10, but who knows…). As noted, I don't bother installing Flash 11.

[peterpqa]

You can easily access the latest one by going to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/, select the 'other OS…' link (whatever the exact text is in English, Adobe redirect me to the FR page as my OS runs in French), then in the dropdown, select 10.4/10.5.

I thought the above meant I could select Flash 10.4/10.5. You must have meant Flash for OS X 10.4/10.5. My mistake.

Uncle Asad, can you hear me now? Is there a Flash 10.3.184 or higher, as your post suggests? If so, where can I find it?

As it is, I can't log into my bank's website with Camino 2.1.2 - the login screen says: " + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; document.write(out); } else { var out = ""; out = out + "" + "\n"; document.write(out); } //-->

But I can log into my bank with Safari 5.1.7. I don't know whether it's a Flash issue or something else. In any case, I'm very sorry to say that I have to abandon Camino. I can't risk security vulnerabilities. At least I found an ad-blocking extension for Safari, so it's a little more like Camino. A sad farewell (sniff).

[phiw13]

As it is, I can't log into my bank's website with Camino 2.1.2 - the login screen says: " + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; out = out + "" + "\n"; document.write(out); } else { var out = ""; out = out + "" + "\n"; document.write(out); } //-->

That is an error in the html (malformed html comment), the html5 parser that ships with Safari & Firefox accept it. Not related to Flash at all.