Howto: Chromium Browser On Linux With Flash

Published on August 10, 2009 in Apps, General by Rami Taibah

Chromium is the Open Source project behind Google’s browser Chrome. It aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all  users to experience the web. Indeed as I type this on Chromium on an Ubuntu laptop, I can truly feel the speed. While Chromium on Linux is still in the pre-release stage, it does seem very stable, and could very well be a backup browser to Firefox if not completely replace it.

Around last year, we jumped through hoops by means of Wine and Codeweavers to get Chromium up and running on Linux (and Mac.) Luckily things have evolved since last year; today we have a daily build of Chromium on Linux, and Ubuntu even has its own PPA!

If you ever ventured into the Chromium territory on Linux, you will probably be disappointed that Flash doesn’t work straight out of the box. However, a very simple hack will solve that and make Chromium a usable browser (we are praying for the day Adobe Flash dies, but thats another issue.)

Chromium-Linux-Flash

If you are on Ubuntu, you should just use the PPA. While other distros will probably different ways to get the daily builds (Google is a friend). However getting Flash to work would probably be the same across the board.

Installing Chromium

If you never added software from a PPA, here is what you should do to get Chromium:

Add these two lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu YOUR_UBUNTU_VERSION_HERE main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu YOUR_UBUNTU_VERSION_HERE main

You may want to add the corresponding GPG key to your apt keyring (Note these flags have two “-”, for some reason WordPress is rendering only one).
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5

Update:
sudo apt-get update

Install:
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Getting Flash To Work

Now to get Flash running, we basically need to create a symbolic link of libflashplayer.so in the Chromium plugin folder:
cd /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins
sudo ln -s ../../flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so

One final step is to change the execution command to your Chromium icon to this (Note these flags have two “-”, for some reason WordPress is rendering only one):
chromium-browser --enable-plugins --enable-greasemonkey --enable-user-scripts --enable-extensions

Thats it! If you face any problems, just leave a comment or @rtaibah on Twitter :)

Update: Chromium also integerates very well with GNOME, just go to options menu >Personal Stuff > Set To GTK Theme OR even get more themes

About

Rami Taibah the founder of The Linuxologist and a self proclaimed geek and Linux aficionado. This fall, he will be pursuing an MIMS degree at UC Berkeley, California. You can follow him on Twitter @rtaibah.

«

»

  • http://iHisham.blogspot.com Hisham Sadek

    Very Interesting Rami,
    Will be trying it out as soon as moving back to Ubuntu

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    Very Interesting Rami,
    Will be trying it out as soon as moving back to Ubuntu

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    Very Interesting Rami,
    Will be trying it out as soon as moving back to Ubuntu

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Thanks Hisham, tell me how it works out for you…

    Nice blog btw :)

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Thanks Hisham, tell me how it works out for you…

    Nice blog btw :)

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Thanks Hisham, tell me how it works out for you…

    Nice blog btw :)

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Crashing all the time, when I click a link !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Crashing all the time, when I click a link !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Crashing all the time, when I click a link !

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Hmmm weird, what are your settings? What distro are you running? It is running perfectly fine with me, been streaming videos, uploading, browsing, everything is fine really….

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Hmmm weird, what are your settings? What distro are you running? It is running perfectly fine with me, been streaming videos, uploading, browsing, everything is fine really….

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Hmmm weird, what are your settings? What distro are you running? It is running perfectly fine with me, been streaming videos, uploading, browsing, everything is fine really….

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    I am using Ubuntu 9.04 and followed your instruction A-Z. Don't know what is happening.

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    I am using Ubuntu 9.04 and followed your instruction A-Z. Don't know what is happening.

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    I am using Ubuntu 9.04 and followed your instruction A-Z. Don't know what is happening.

  • http://iHisham.blogspot.com Hisham Sadek

    Thanks :)

    I don't know but didn't work for me .. Did all the steps and updated chromium but still not working in ..

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    Thanks :)

    I don't know but didn't work for me .. Did all the steps and updated chromium but still not working in ..

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    Thanks :)

    I don't know but didn't work for me .. Did all the steps and updated chromium but still not working in ..

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Chromium not working or Flash? Did you load it using chromium-browser –enable-plugins –enable-greasemonkey –enable-user-scripts –enable-extensions?

    Maybe try just using –enable-plugins forget the other flags for now?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Chromium not working or Flash? Did you load it using chromium-browser –enable-plugins –enable-greasemonkey –enable-user-scripts –enable-extensions?

    Maybe try just using –enable-plugins forget the other flags for now?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Chromium not working or Flash? Did you load it using chromium-browser –enable-plugins –enable-greasemonkey –enable-user-scripts –enable-extensions?

    Maybe try just using –enable-plugins forget the other flags for now?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Can you confirm if Chromium alone without Flash is working? Just launch “chromium-browser” without any of the other flags. Does it still crash?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Can you confirm if Chromium alone without Flash is working? Just launch “chromium-browser” without any of the other flags. Does it still crash?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Can you confirm if Chromium alone without Flash is working? Just launch “chromium-browser” without any of the other flags. Does it still crash?

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Yes it does !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Yes it does !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Yes it does !

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Does it work? Or does it crash LOL

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Does it work? Or does it crash LOL

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Does it work? Or does it crash LOL

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Haha.. it does crash !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Haha.. it does crash !

  • http://blog.buddy-j.jeewaya.com/ Budhajeewa Supun

    Haha.. it does crash !

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    E-mail me (contact on the left) the error you get when launching chromium from the command line…

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    E-mail me (contact on the left) the error you get when launching chromium from the command line…

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    E-mail me (contact on the left) the error you get when launching chromium from the command line…

  • http://iHisham.blogspot.com Hisham Sadek

    I don't know that's weird but It works now :D ..
    The problem is I copied the code from here and It misses another – after every one so It should be –

    And It works Great now =)

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    I don't know that's weird but It works now :D ..
    The problem is I copied the code from here and It misses another – after every one so It should be –

    And It works Great now =)

  • http://www.ihisham.com Hisham Sadek

    I don't know that's weird but It works now :D ..
    The problem is I copied the code from here and It misses another – after every one so It should be –

    And It works Great now =)

  • Cazares

    What skin of ubuntu are you using?

  • Cazares

    What skin of ubuntu are you using?

  • Cazares

    What skin of ubuntu are you using?

  • Cazares

    What skin of ubuntu are you using?

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah
  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah
  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah
  • wiebelhaus

    I posted this yesterday on the msgboard , what a coincidence.

  • wiebelhaus

    I posted this yesterday on the msgboard , what a coincidence.

  • wiebelhaus

    I posted this yesterday on the msgboard , what a coincidence.

  • sharkbait

    Hi, running
    cd /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins
    sudo ln -s ../../flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so
    is no longer necessary; Chromium automatically loads Firefox's plugins.

  • sharkbait

    Hi, running
    cd /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins
    sudo ln -s ../../flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so
    is no longer necessary; Chromium automatically loads Firefox's plugins.

  • sharkbait

    Hi, running
    cd /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins
    sudo ln -s ../../flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so
    is no longer necessary; Chromium automatically loads Firefox's plugins.

  • davidbanham

    This is brilliant. Blows Shiretoko out of the water. Only strange issue is that it gets sent to the back of all windows any time I middle click on a URL.

  • davidbanham

    This is brilliant. Blows Shiretoko out of the water. Only strange issue is that it gets sent to the back of all windows any time I middle click on a URL.

  • davidbanham

    This is brilliant. Blows Shiretoko out of the water. Only strange issue is that it gets sent to the back of all windows any time I middle click on a URL.

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    I am not sure about that, I tried that yesterday it didn't work. Unless today's build fixed the issue….

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    I am not sure about that, I tried that yesterday it didn't work. Unless today's build fixed the issue….

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    I am not sure about that, I tried that yesterday it didn't work. Unless today's build fixed the issue….

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Ya in many cases it does. Though I am still finding some glitches. For example, I still cannot follow anybody on Twitter when I click on the follow button. Also cannot login to Facebook, I get a security warning. I need to look into these.

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Ya in many cases it does. Though I am still finding some glitches. For example, I still cannot follow anybody on Twitter when I click on the follow button. Also cannot login to Facebook, I get a security warning. I need to look into these.

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    Ya in many cases it does. Though I am still finding some glitches. For example, I still cannot follow anybody on Twitter when I click on the follow button. Also cannot login to Facebook, I get a security warning. I need to look into these.

  • wil2197

    did everything to the letter. All efforts to get flash working failed here.

  • wil2197

    did everything to the letter. All efforts to get flash working failed here.

  • wil2197

    did everything to the letter. All efforts to get flash working failed here.

  • malarie

    Hmm..

    malarie@malarie-laptop:/home/malarie# sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    usage: gpg [options] [filename]

  • malarie

    Hmm..

    malarie@malarie-laptop:/home/malarie# sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    usage: gpg [options] [filename]

  • malarie

    Hmm..

    malarie@malarie-laptop:/home/malarie# sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    usage: gpg [options] [filename]

  • http://linuxologist.com Rami Taibah

    For some reason dashies aren't being rendered properly. Make sure each flag has a “–” (two dashes) NOT one

  • davidbanham

    Could it be an issue with your command line arguments in the launcher? First time around I tried pasting what was here, then adding another dash. Turns out whatever is screwing up the double dash is turning it from two short dashes into one long dash. Anyway, go and have another look at the launcher parameters and sort out the dashes.

    You'll know your arguments are right when you see a page warning you about the fact that flash is in beta and telling you that chromium is not chrome.

  • davidbanham

    Could it be an issue with your command line arguments in the launcher? First time around I tried pasting what was here, then adding another dash. Turns out whatever is screwing up the double dash is turning it from two short dashes into one long dash. Anyway, go and have another look at the launcher parameters and sort out the dashes.

    You'll know your arguments are right when you see a page warning you about the fact that flash is in beta and telling you that chromium is not chrome.

  • davidbanham

    Could it be an issue with your command line arguments in the launcher? First time around I tried pasting what was here, then adding another dash. Turns out whatever is screwing up the double dash is turning it from two short dashes into one long dash. Anyway, go and have another look at the launcher parameters and sort out the dashes.

    You'll know your arguments are right when you see a page warning you about the fact that flash is in beta and telling you that chromium is not chrome.

  • Name

    Note that since Chromium isn't yet available in native 64-bit form, if you're using amd64, you'll need to download 32-bit flash directly from adobe's site, extract the tarball, and copy libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins to get flash to work.

  • http://www.somgnu.cat/2009/08/11/google-chromium-a-gnulinux-amb-flash/ Google Chromium a GNU/Linux amb Flash | SomGNU

    [...] Vist a linuxologist [...]

  • davidbanham

    I think that second paragraph above is inaccurate. Please disregard.

  • davidbanham

    I think that second paragraph above is inaccurate. Please disregard.

  • davidbanham

    I think that second paragraph above is inaccurate. Please disregard.

  • http://identi.ca/notice/7926914 Michael J. Giarlo (mjgiarlo) ‘s status on Tuesday, 11-Aug-09 12:31:40 UTC – Identi.ca
  • Kar

    There is a typo in the command above. It should be –recv-key and not –recv-keys.

    This worked for me.
    sudo apt-key adv -–recv-key -–keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5

    After installation, I am getting a breakpoint trap error. Perhaps this nightly build isn’t stable. Hope tomorrow’s is.

  • http://www.storix.com/ David Huffman

    I attempted with two dashes and still get a syntax error with hardy. sudo apt-key adv -–recv-keys -–keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg -–recv-keys -–keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 4E5E17B5
    gpg: Invalid option “-–recv-keys”

  • wil2197

    did what you say, and says the browser opens up saying the link is broken. I'll throw in the towel at this point. It just still isn't perfect, but I'll admit it's fast. Just can't use it with flash.

  • wil2197

    did what you say, and says the browser opens up saying the link is broken. I'll throw in the towel at this point. It just still isn't perfect, but I'll admit it's fast. Just can't use it with flash.

  • wil2197

    did what you say, and says the browser opens up saying the link is broken. I'll throw in the towel at this point. It just still isn't perfect, but I'll admit it's fast. Just can't use it with flash.

  • http://FragosTech.com fragostech

    I’ve been using Chromium from the Ubuntu PPA for over a while. I tried enabling plugins so flash would run and ended up making Chromium my default browser. Not perfect but very usable and promising. When I rarely need a fall back I use Epiphany.

  • http://technologyshowdown.blogspot.com/2009/08/get-chromium-browser-on-linux-flash.html The Technology Blog: Get Chromium Browser On Linux Flash

    [...] on Linux is still in the pre-release stage, it does seem stable, and could even replace it!Source:http://linuxologist.com/apps/howto-chromium-browser-on-linux-with-flash/ Posted by Makin at [...]

  • wil2197

    did what you say, and says the browser opens up saying the link is broken. I'll throw in the towel at this point. It just still isn't perfect, but I'll admit it's fast. Just can't use it with flash.

  • jokerejoker

    Try the official Chrome on linux:

    http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-ch…

  • http://identi.ca/notice/8077862 Børge (forteller) ‘s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-09 17:32:26 UTC – Identi.ca
  • shawn

    i can confirm this works with one exception, when linking the libflashplayer.so you should use this if it's not in the directory he gave you (/usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/):

    sudo ln -s /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so

    of course, if you're running 64-bit distro then it will be /usr/lib64/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so

  • http://linuxease.com/ Clint Brothers

    Good howto, but why would you want flash to die? I think flash is the lesser of two evils, silverlight by M$ being the worst. Yes it would be nice if all the web was OGG THEORA and with firefox 3.5 that is more possible, but for now flash is better than silverlight or any M$ ip crap.

  • http://identi.ca/notice/8294172 J D D (pookito) ‘s status on Monday, 17-Aug-09 15:03:02 UTC – Identi.ca
  • http://twitter.com/_xdunlapx_ Brittany Dunlap

    Flash still does not work after following your how-to. I've restarted the browser repeatedly and it still wont work. I'm using Xubuntu 10.04 with all updates applied.

  • http://twitter.com/rtaibah Rami Taibah

    Brittany, this is an old guide. Almost a year old. I believe that Flash works out of the box right now….Did you try Chrome? Does it work under Firefox?