Firefox in 32-bit chroot [solved without chroot!]

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Hi there...

I'm having a weird problem trying to get firefox to work in a 32-bit chroot:

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

Hi,

if you use your chroot under /mnt/gentoo32 your emul-linux-*-libs are not used.

The libs are needed in your chroot-environment, so you have to install/emerge everything there, your 32-bit program needs.

The emul-linux-* are just für executing 32-bit-progs in your 64-bit environment.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

So I guess the dependency requirement in this case would be gtk-2.4?

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

i think so, but you have to check.

easiest way is to build a 32-bit chroot with a full install. thi sway you just have to emerge whatever you want in your chroot and all dependancies are met.

for now i would try to copy all from /emul/linux/x86 to your chroot.

herbie · Guru Joined: 09 Oct 2002 Posts: 319 Location: London UK

But why run firefox from within a chroot anyway? why not just emerge firefox-bin in your 64bit environment which will then run perfectly using the emul-libs.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Because there are some plugins that will not work on a 64-bit browser (i.e. netscape-flash). I did get java to work, so I'm not concerned about that... but I would like flash to work.

herbie · Guru Joined: 09 Oct 2002 Posts: 319 Location: London UK

yes but flash works with firefix-bin in a 64bit environment, that's why it's not masked. You don't need a chroot to run a 32bit browser or to get flash to work, just emerge mozilla-firefox-bin netscape-flash and run firefox-bin.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Seems like I tried to get that to work but it didn't... but I just did and it worked fine. :oops:

Thanks!

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

java-plugin does not work in firefox-bin for me.

could you tell me, how you did that?

i always get:

current locale is not supported in X11, locale is set to CX locale modifiers are not supported, using default

and java_vm has to be killed.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

I had that problem when I had accidentally installed a 32-bit java vm in the 64-bit environment... but that was a previous install. You might want to check and make sure that the plugin symlink in /usr/lib/MozillaFirefox/plugins is pointing to the proper 64-bit java plugin.

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

Why? I need firefox-bin for flash and so i need a 32-bit java.

64-bit firefox with 64-bit blackdown-jdk works (for most applets) but then i cannot use netscape-flash.

Or am i completely wrong?

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

I have 64-bit blackdown-jdk installed with firefox-bin and netscape-flash... seems to be working okie.

Disclaimer: I'll have to verify that when I get home tonight - I'm at the office right now!

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Okie, just checked it out and - guess what? Java doesn't work

The 64-bit blackdown-jdk plugin (symlink is correct) just doesn't work at all. It claims the file isn't found, but I verified everything is in place. Bummer. Anyone have any ideas?

mooseboy · n00b Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 26

confirmed. 64 bit blackdown-jdk plugin is a no-go on 32 bit firefox. Next idea I can think of is to try chroot 32 bit java.

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

I wonder if anybody has it working. 32-bit firefox-bin with a java-plugin.

Perhaps an older version?

If not, you are back to this thread's title!

I use Konqueror at the moment. Search the forum. There was a thread with a guide to patch konqueror to use 32-bit-plugins and konqueror runs fine with sun-jdk-1.5.

But i would like firefox again.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Yeah, kinda goes back to my original idea of putting all of firefox in a 32-bit chroot.

I have a 32-bit chroot environment set up. I was thinking the same as you - but was thinking of just going into the chroot and emerging java, then symlink to the 32-bit java from the regular system's plugin directory. That was the only thought I had, but somehow I have a feeling it's not going to happen...

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Well, I got a little closer. I did what I said I was going to try and I actually saw it *try* to load java, but then the browser crashed. I would paste the error but it was the most gigantic crash dump I've ever seen in my life (aside from a dump from a crashed Windoze machine).

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

I don't think, this will work.

If you simply point the symbolic link to the java-plugin in your chroot, it will be the same as pointing to a jdk-32-bit in your normal environment.

firefox itself has to be in the chroot.

Sometimes i wonder, if it's worth it. Why not install a 32-bit gentoo and everything is working without problems.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

So far I think it's worth it. It's just not in the Linux spirit to not make full use of the hardware whenever possible. In all truth, I've only had a few buggy problems with KDE in general and this java problem. Aside from that, I've not had any hair-raising issues that kept me from using the distro. Matter of fact, Gentoo AMD64 is the only 64-bit distro that has been as rock-solid as it can be.

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

That's for sure!

And most things run fine.

Java is still the biggest problem. jdk-1.5 seems to be ok now, but ther is still no plugin.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

Alright, so I guess we're back to the original question... how do you get firefox running in a 32-bit chroot?

Can you emerge mozilla-firefox-bin with --nodeps or do you have to let it install everything, even the X server?

What command would be attached to the icon?

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

The clean solution:

- install a minimal 32-bit gentoo with X-server in your chroot, no kernel, nothing to configure for X
- now you can simply emerge everything, that doesn't work in 64-bit in your chroot

The simple solution:

- copy the structure under /emul/linux/x86/ into your chroot
- load the binary tgz for firefox from mozilla.org and unpack in a directory of your choice. they always had a version without installer and that nonsense.
- the same for a 32-bit jdk or jre
- set the symbolic link for the plugin (do not link outside of your chroot)

In each case: You have to create your own icon. If you emerge or install something inside your chroot noting is changed in your 64-bit environment (That's what a chroot-jail is for!).

And remember to mount tmpfs, procfs and devfs with the bind-option to the same places inside your chroot.

I hope this works for you. I am running a debian-install at the moment in my chroot, so i don't have to compile everything for 32-bit.

Vermyndax · Apprentice Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 208

I'm assuming by your answer you mean to do: "emerge --nodeps mozilla-firefox-bin" - and then go through the deps that prevent it from working one by one?

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

I didn't mean that!

If you already have a mininal gentoo in your chroot (with portage), which i assume by your question, i would simply emerge it with X and so on. Than you have no problems.

hartmutg · n00b Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 40 Location: Hamburg

Good News!

Forget about the chroot:

I just tried to hunt this error down and an strace for java_vm gave nothing.

So i tried sun-jre-1.5.0 for 32-bit (never tried this before, always 1.4.2) (loaded from java.sun.com), extractet it, set a symbolic link to the plugin for ns7 and what great wonder:

It's working now!

So i've got a firefox-bin with flash, mplayerplugin and java.

Good luck for your test!