Installation of Plug-ins for Opera on Linux

This document was last updated for Opera 11.00.

Table of contents

• General instructions for plug-in installation
• Adobe Reader
• Adobe Flash Player
• Gecko Mediaplayer
• Java plug-in (Sun/Oracle)

General instructions - installing plug-ins for Opera on Linux

Preliminaries

Opera supports the standard plug-in interface on Linux, the Gecko Plugin API. Opera runs plug-ins in a separate process using an external application called operapluginwrapper. If a plug-in is misbehaving, you can kill this process without exiting Opera.

Installing the easy way: with packages made for your distribution

All the major Linux distributions today have excellent systems for installing and updating software, making it possible to download and install a plug-in with a simple click or command. We recommend using such a package manager to install plug-ins. However, on this page we give additional instructions for those who prefer to install the plug-in manually.

General principles of manual installation

The general procedure for manual installation is the following:

1. Download and install the plug-in
2. Configure Opera so that it can find the plug-in
3. Restart Opera

Instructions for the first step are usually given by the plug-in manufacturer, and are repeated below. For the second step, there are at least two alternative procedures: either copy the plug-in to /usr/lib/opera/plugins,where it will be discovered automatically after restarting Opera, or add the directory containing the plug-in to the plug-in path. To add a new directory to the plug-in path, select Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Content, click on "Plug-in options", and "Change path".

After changing the path, restart Opera, and if all went well, the plug-in should be listed under Page > Developer Tools > Plug-ins. To be certain that Opera will use the plug-in, and not some alternative application, go to Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Downloads, and select the mime-type associated with the plug-in. Click on "Edit", and make sure that "Use plug-in" is marked appropriately.

Note: A user without root access can install the plug-in in $HOME/.local/lib/opera/plugins.

What to do if it does not work

Try asking in the My Opera Forums.

Adobe Reader

Command line instructions to locate the Adobe Reader plug-in, if it is installed:

• locate nppdf.so, or
• find / -name nppdf.so 2> /dev/null

If Adobe Reader plug-in is not installed, or you wish to upgrade, proceed as follows:

1. Download the plug-in suitable for your system. Available formats for Linux include .deb, .rpm, .tar, and .bin files.
2. If you download the .tar file, you need to unpack it
   tar xvf AdobeReader_enu-8.1.7-1.i486.tar.gz
   Change to the directory containing the INSTALL script and, as root, type ./INSTALL.
   By default, the script will install a number of files into /opt. Detailed instructions are included in ReadMe.htm. So that the plug-in will be discovered, type the following commands:
   • cd /usr/lib/opera/plugins
   • ln -s /opt/Adobe/Reader8/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so
3. Restart Opera.
4. Adobe Reader should now be included on the list of plug-ins detected by Opera at Page > Developer Tools > Plug-ins. If not, repeat some or all of the previous steps.
5. Verify that the plug-in is working by loading a pdf file.
6. If all the previous steps have been completed, and the .pdf file opens not in Adobe Reader but in a different application, go to Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Downloads and select "application/pdf". Click "Edit", and make sure that "Use plug-in" is marked appropriately.

MIME types:

application/pdf:pdf:Portable Document Format

Adobe Flash Player

Command line instructions to locate the Adobe Flash Player plug-in, if it is installed:

• locate libflashplayer.so, or
• find / -name libflashplayer.so 2> /dev/null

If Adobe Flash Player is not installed, or you wish to upgrade, proceed as follows:

1. Download the plug-in from Adobe's website. The plug-in is available in various formats, including .deb, .rpm, and .tar.
2. Follow the instructions on the download page. If you choose the .tar file, you need to unpack it
   tar xvf install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz
   and copy libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib/opera/plugins. A user without root access can copy the the plug-in to $HOME/.local/lib/opera/plugins.
3. Restart Opera.
4. Verify that the plug-in is working by going to Adobe's test page.

For additional information on Adobe Flash Player for Linux, see Adobe's blog.

MIME types:

application/futuresplash:spl:FutureSplash Player

application/x-shockwave-flash:swf:Shockwave Flash

Gecko Mediaplayer

gecko-mediaplayer is free software (GPL), distributed together with most Linux distributions. To compile it yourself, see the gecko-mediaplayer website.

Java plug-in (Sun/Oracle)

As of Opera 10.50, Opera uses the Java plug-in. Previously Opera used the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) directly.

The installation instructions for Java on java.com are are correct, but the configuration step is wrong. Use the following instructions instead.

Command line instructions to locate the Sun Java plug-in, if installed:

• locate libnpjp2.so, or
• find / -name libnpjp2.so 2>/dev/null

If Java plug-in is not installed, or you wish to upgrade, proceed as follows:

1. If you require a functioning BankID, purge your system of all Java implementations except for Sun Java. In particular, icedtea6-plugin (including default-jre and openJDK) should be removed.
2. Download the Java Runtime Environment that is suitable for your system.
3. Follow the installation instructions, but ignore the section entitled "Enable and Configure". In what follows, it is assumed that you have installed Java (version 1.6.0_21) in /opt. If you have a more recent version, or you install the plug-in elsewhere, you need to modify the command accordingly.
4. So that Java will be discovered, type the following commands:
   • cd /usr/lib/opera/plugins
   • ln -s /opt/jre-1.6.0_21/usr/java/jre1.6.0_21/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

MIME types:

application/x-java-applet::Java(tm) Plug-in

application/x-java-bean::Java(tm)