firefox PDF error after update launching adobe reader 7.0
I recently updated my 9.3 system with YOU. Now Firefox can't view PDFs :( When I try to view one, it says: Could not launch Adobe Reader 7.0. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable ... (Don't you just hate applications that won't let you copy and paste their error messages!). Has anybody seen this before? I haven't managed to figure it out by experimenting with Firefox's preferences and the only references I've found with Google are old and don't seem relevant. Thanks, Dave
Dave Howorth wrote:
I recently updated my 9.3 system with YOU. Now Firefox can't view PDFs :( When I try to view one, it says:
Could not launch Adobe Reader 7.0. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable ...
(Don't you just hate applications that won't let you copy and paste their error messages!). Has anybody seen this before? I haven't managed to figure it out by experimenting with Firefox's preferences and the only references I've found with Google are old and don't seem relevant.
Thanks, Dave
I had a hassle with both FF and TB a couple of weeks ago when I went back to using the official released versions and just couldn't get FF to start when I selected a link shown in a TB message, and couldn't post a message in FF which normally calls TB. Both of these facilities worked perfectly for 'years'. Took a while to figure out what was going wrong - and it was a very simple solution. You must select FF and TB as your default browser and mail client and then everything starts to work correctly. Perhaps your problem with Reader may be solved in the same way. Cheers. -- "Every burned book enlightens the world." Ralph Waldo Emerson
On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 02:10 +1000, Basil Chupin wrote:
Dave Howorth wrote:
I recently updated my 9.3 system with YOU. Now Firefox can't view PDFs :( When I try to view one, it says:
Could not launch Adobe Reader 7.0. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable ...
You must select FF and TB as your default browser and mail client and then everything starts to work correctly. Perhaps your problem with Reader may be solved in the same way.
Thanks Basil, Firefox is already my default browser and on this machine I don't use Thunderbird (I do have problems with Thunderbird on another machine after the 1.5.0.7 update) Cheers, Dave
On Sunday 08 October 2006 11:57, Dave Howorth wrote:
I recently updated my 9.3 system with YOU. Now Firefox can't view PDFs :( When I try to view one, it says:
Could not launch Adobe Reader 7.0. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable ...
(Don't you just hate applications that won't let you copy and paste their error messages!). Has anybody seen this before? I haven't managed to figure it out by experimenting with Firefox's preferences and the only references I've found with Google are old and don't seem relevant.
Hi Dave, I have the following on my systems running Firefox 1.5.0.7: carl@linux:~> locate nppdf.so /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so Plus symlinks to /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so here: /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins/nppdf.so /usr/lib/browser-plugins/nppdf.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/nppdf.so With recent SUSE releases, the 'central store' for browser plug-ins is the directory /usr/lib/browser-plugins, and most SUSE-specific rpm packages will 'land' their plug-ins in this central store. Some will retain a predefined unique plug-in location, in which case symlinks pointing to them are placed in the central store. In case you're wondering, the rationale for such a central store is to ease plug-ins maintenance and allow them to be shared by multiple browsers. You are aware, aren't you, that you can review the listing of active installed plug-ins in Firefox by entering "about:plugins" in the address bar? I'd check there to see what Firefox is 'seeing' for installed and active plug-ins. Another comment: Quite awhile back, I can't recall which versions were involved, but I had an Acroread plug-in version conflict where the preceding plug-in with a different name (but containing the string 'pdf') was retained and conflicting with the new plug-in named 'nppdf.so'. So, you need to look under all the directories on your system containing plug-ins and ensure obsolete plug-ins are removed... even check under your local user browser 'hidden' files like ~/.mozilla or ~/.firefox, etc. hth & regards, Carl
On Sun, 2006-10-08 at 12:37 -0400, Carl Hartung wrote:
On Sunday 08 October 2006 11:57, Dave Howorth wrote:
I recently updated my 9.3 system with YOU. Now Firefox can't view PDFs :( When I try to view one, it says:
Could not launch Adobe Reader 7.0. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable ...
I have the following on my systems running Firefox 1.5.0.7:
carl@linux:~> locate nppdf.so /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so
I have this. It's dated 2006-06-26 17:40
Plus symlinks to /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so here: /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins/nppdf.so
I don't have this. That directory contains: libnullplugin.so* mplayerplug-in-qt.so@ mplayerplug-in.so@ mplayerplug-in-gmp.so@ mplayerplug-in-rm.so@ mplayerplug-in-wmp.so@
/usr/lib/browser-plugins/nppdf.so
I do have that. It's a symlink to ../../X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so
/usr/lib/firefox/plugins/nppdf.so
I don't have a /usr/lib/firefox directory.
With recent SUSE releases, the 'central store' for browser plug-ins is the directory /usr/lib/browser-plugins, and most SUSE-specific rpm packages will 'land' their plug-ins in this central store. Some will retain a predefined unique plug-in location, in which case symlinks pointing to them are placed in the central store. In case you're wondering, the rationale for such a central store is to ease plug-ins maintenance and allow them to be shared by multiple browsers.
You are aware, aren't you, that you can review the listing of active installed plug-ins in Firefox by entering "about:plugins" in the address bar? I'd check there to see what Firefox is 'seeing' for installed and active plug-ins.
I wasn't aware of that. Thanks! Since Firefox provides a menu item to manage extensions then it ought to provide a similar menu item for plugins, IMHO, and I'd been disappointed not to find that. Adobe reader 7.0 is listed: Adobe Reader 7.0 File name: nppdf.so The Adobe Reader plugin is used to enable viewing of PDF and FDF files from within the browser. MIME Type Description Suffixes Enabled application/pdf Portable Document Format pdf Yes application/vnd.fdf Acrobat Forms Data Format fdf Yes application/vnd.adobe.xfdf XML Version of Acrobat Forms Data Format xfdf Yes application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml Acrobat XML Data Package xdp Yes application/vnd.adobe.xfd+xml Adobe FormFlow99 Data File xfd Yes but I don't see anything there that looks like a problem.
Another comment: Quite awhile back, I can't recall which versions were involved, but I had an Acroread plug-in version conflict where the preceding plug-in with a different name (but containing the string 'pdf') was retained and conflicting with the new plug-in named 'nppdf.so'. So, you need to look under all the directories on your system containing plug-ins and ensure obsolete plug-ins are removed... even check under your local user browser 'hidden' files like ~/.mozilla or ~/.firefox, etc.
I don't know where to look. But there's nothing in the directories you listed and nothing that matches '*pdf* under ~/.mozilla and I don't have a ~/.firefox (I do have ~/.mozilla/firefox). In summary, I haven't seen anything that gives me a clue :( Thanks for the pointers, Dave
On Sunday 08 October 2006 14:10, Dave Howorth wrote:
Plus symlinks to /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so here: /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins/nppdf.so
I don't have this. That directory contains:
libnullplugin.so* mplayerplug-in-qt.so@ mplayerplug-in.so@ mplayerplug-in-gmp.so@ mplayerplug-in-rm.so@ mplayerplug-in-wmp.so@
Seems to me I've probably only got one active 'global' (system wide) Firefox installation with others that have been superceded but not removed. Maybe you've got something similar going on? The *lazy* way I've dealt with this ;-) is to just hunt down every 'Firefox' installation and make sure each */lib/plugins directory I find contains the identical set of symlinks pointing to the plug-ins installed under /usr/lib/browser-plug-ins Example: (as root) cd /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins ln -s /usr/lib/browser-plugins/nppdf.so nppdf.so Then comes an important final step which is truly a legacy mozilla quirk: -> *whenever* you add/update/remove a plug-in from 'mozilla' or the various flavors, you need to find... somewhere under your user config directory (e.g. ~/.mozilla/*) a file called "pluginreg.dat". Make sure 'mozilla flavor' is closed completely and then delete this pluginreg.dat file. The next time 'mozilla flavor' loads it will re-register all the plug-ins it finds. Try this and see if it works. regards, Carl
On Sun, 2006-10-08 at 14:43 -0400, Carl Hartung wrote:
Seems to me I've probably only got one active 'global' (system wide) Firefox installation with others that have been superceded but not removed. Maybe you've got something similar going on?
Hello Carl, IIRC, I've only loaded Firefox with YaST, because I hate this kind of problem. But perhaps I've forgotten something.
The *lazy* way I've dealt with this ;-) is to just hunt down every 'Firefox' installation and make sure each */lib/plugins directory I find contains the identical set of symlinks pointing to the plug-ins installed under /usr/lib/browser-plug-ins
I'm not sure how to junt down Firefox installations. In terms of plugins directories, I have: ls /opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/plugins/ . libjavaplugin_oji.so mplayerplug-in-rm.so .. libnullplugin.so mplayerplug-in.so flashplayer.xpt mplayerplug-in-gmp.so mplayerplug-in-wmp.so libflashplayer.so mplayerplug-in-qt.so nphelix.so nphelix.xpt nppdf.so ls /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins/ . libnullplugin.so mplayerplug-in-qt.so mplayerplug-in.so .. mplayerplug-in-gmp.so mplayerplug-in-rm.so mplayerplug-in-wmp.so ls /opt/mozilla/lib64/plugins/ . .. libnpflash.so libnullplugin.so mozplugger.so
Example:
(as root) cd /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins ln -s /usr/lib/browser-plugins/nppdf.so nppdf.so
Are you saying I should add symlinks to opt/mozilla/lib and /opt/mozilla/lib64? /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so/usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so is a 32-bit library, so I guess not?
Then comes an important final step which is truly a legacy mozilla quirk:
-> *whenever* you add/update/remove a plug-in from 'mozilla' or the various flavors, you need to find... somewhere under your user config directory (e.g. ~/.mozilla/*) a file called "pluginreg.dat". Make sure 'mozilla flavor' is closed completely and then delete this pluginreg.dat file. The next time 'mozilla flavor' loads it will re-register all the plug-ins it finds.
Try this and see if it works.
Well, I had: /home/dhoworth/.mozilla/pluginreg.dat /home/dhoworth/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat so I deleted them both, after checking Firefox wasn't running. But I still have the same problem. I'm tempted to just tell YaST to remove Firefox and Acrobat reader and then reinstall. Thanks for the help, Carl. Cheers, Dave
On Sunday 08 October 2006 15:55, Dave Howorth wrote:
IIRC, I've only loaded Firefox with YaST, because I hate this kind of problem. But perhaps I've forgotten something.
Same here. But I still end up with multiple apparent Firefox 'homes'. Maybe they're installed in parallel to accommodate legacy plug-ins or dependent packages? The 'lazy' approach I've described has always worked for me... ???
ls /opt/MozillaFirefox/lib/plugins/ . libjavaplugin_oji.so mplayerplug-in-rm.so .. libnullplugin.so mplayerplug-in.so flashplayer.xpt mplayerplug-in-gmp.so mplayerplug-in-wmp.so libflashplayer.so mplayerplug-in-qt.so nphelix.so nphelix.xpt nppdf.so ^^^^ This one's good (and my current 'active' Firefox install)
ls /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins/ . libnullplugin.so mplayerplug-in-qt.so mplayerplug-in.so .. mplayerplug-in-gmp.so mplayerplug-in-rm.so mplayerplug-in-wmp.so ^^^^ Here, as root: ln -s /usr/lib/browser-plugins/nppdf.so nppdf.so
ls /opt/mozilla/lib64/plugins/ . .. libnpflash.so libnullplugin.so mozplugger.so ^^^^ Not here, as you surmised, because nppdf.so is 32-bit
Well, I had:
/home/dhoworth/.mozilla/pluginreg.dat /home/dhoworth/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat
so I deleted them both, after checking Firefox wasn't running. But I still have the same problem.
Close Firefox. Create the symlink described above. Delete both copies of pluginreg.dat. Launch Firefox and test.
I'm tempted to just tell YaST to remove Firefox and Acrobat reader and then reinstall.
I'd try downloading and reinstalling these items manually from commandline. But that's me.
Thanks for the help, Carl.
You're welcome. If this doesn't work, there must be some kind of interaction happening as a result of the 64-bit <> 32-bit libraries and I'm out of ideas. Carl
participants (3)
-
Basil Chupin -
Carl Hartung -
Dave Howorth