chroot: firefox browser plugins
Hi,
I just built myself a 64-bit AMD X2 desktop system and decided I'd give
a 64-bit distro a shot. On my recently ebayed last system I was using
32-bit Sarge for just over a year and loved it. I am now happily running
Etch RC1 64-bit.
Happily? Well, almost....
For the relatively few 32-bit programs I need/want to run, I opted for
the chroot method (as described in the Debian AMD64 HOWTO). I installed
Firefox 2.0.0.1 by unpacking the archive from getfirefox.com into
/usr/local in my chroot (I prefer not to use Debian-packaged firefox
because I've found it to be more crash prone). The browser starts up
without a hitch.
But, for the life of me, I am unable to create any symlinks in
/usr/local/firefox/plugins to the currently installed plugins in the
chroot (acrobat and java, atm). Each time I try, it results in a
dangling symlink (and, yes, I am issuing each command from within the
chroot).
I thought it might be a permissions issue (even though I didn't change
any), so I tried unpacking firefox in bind-mounted /home/<user>. No change.
I also tried 3 methods of installing Sun Java - from the Debian repo,
from sun.com, and building locally using java-package. Again, no ability
to symlink to the java plugin.
I don't get it. I can create symlinks to any other files/dirs in the
chroot, just not browser plugins?? I have read permissions on all
elements of the plugin path, and write permissions to where I want to
create the symlink. I've also tried copying the plugins to the firefox
plugins directory, but firefox still doesn't register them.
Curiously (or not?), I don't have this problem if I use the firefox
version from Debian. It's just 'getfirefox'. I don't want to use the
Debian version, though, or another browser. I may use Iceweasel from
unstable as a last resort, but I really shouldn't be having this problem
in the first place.
Any clues? It's the first time I've used chroot, so if I am overlooking
something simple, my apologies :)
Thanks,
Les
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