NSAPI plugin demo not working on Firefox 4

[taranaki]

Hi,

I have the latest from git (1.53.58) and a clean compile of the JuceBrowserDemoPlugin will not load in Firefox 4. When I try to load it manually it reports a corrupt file for both 32- and 64-bit builds (aside: in Chrome I can only load 32-bit plugins, and in Safari both seem to work). The result is the same using the slightly older version we currently build with our application.

These are the two messages which appear in the Firefox error console:

Warning: WARN addons.xpi: Invalid XPI: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIZipReader.open]" nsresult: "0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm :: AI_loadManifest :: line 5367" data: no]
Source File: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm
Line: 5367
Warning: WARN addons.xpi: Download failed: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED) [nsIZipReader.open]" nsresult: "0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm :: AI_loadManifest :: line 5367" data: no]
Source File: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm
Line: 5367

Does anyone else experience this problem or have ideas on what might be going on?

Best regards,
Cameron

[jules]

The binaries still work, but they've changed the xpi format - the directory structure in the xpi needs to be organised differently for it to work in FF4 - not sure exactly what's needed, but I'm sure there's info about it out there somewhere..

[peteatjuce]

Hi Jules,

The Mixtikl plug-in isn't detected by Firefox 4 on Mac - have you made any recent fixes in relation to getting things working in FF4?

Pete

[jules]

have you made any recent fixes in relation to getting things working in FF4?

There's nothing for me to fix, I'm afraid! The code's fine, and the actual binaries do still work if you put them into the right place - it's just the packaging mechanism that Mozilla have mucked about with. I'm staying well clear of any XPI packaging questions though, that's definitely not my area of expertise!

[peteatjuce]

Hi Jules,

Browser plugins - my least favourite subject.

"the actual binaries do still work" ... just wanted to clarify that ...?

I can't even get FF4 to recognise that the plug-in exists ... whereas other (old) plug-ins are reported in Firefox, and I'm pretty certain they haven't been updated...?
Safari reports the plug-ins (but runs only in 32-bit mode of course, see this old forum thread... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4430&hilit=safari&start=30 ...)

Blimey, I wish that these companies wouldn't change things, makes it very difficult for plug-in developers!

Pete

[peteatjuce]

Just wondering if this is a 64-bit / Cocoa issue, just like for Safari.... https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mac:NPAPI_Event_Models
"The Cocoa event model is an alternative event model for 32-bit Mac OS X plugins and the default event model for 64-bit Mac OS X plugins. "

Edit: just forced Firefox to run in 32-bit mode on Mac - and the plug-in is detected and run.

[To set Firefox to always run in 32 bit mode, open up Finder and go to the Applications folder. Control-click the Firefox app and click "Get Info", then select the "Open in 32-bit mode" option...]

So, this is the same issue as 64-bit Safari (http://www.rawmaterialsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4430&hilit=safari&start=30)

As the both Safari and Firefox have gone this way on Mac, the issue is only going to get worse for us until you somehow (!) find time to fix it!

Best wishes,

Pete

[jules]

As the both Safari and Firefox have gone this way on Mac, the issue is only going to get worse for us until you somehow (!) find time to fix it!

Damn them!

In firefox it's pretty likely that just building a 64-bit universal binary will be enough (you can do a 64-bit NPAPI if you target 10.5 (or maybe 10.6.. can't emember exactly). In safari when I lasted looked, the problem was more severe because it wasn't allowing a 64-bit binary to add its NSView to the window and I couldn't find a way around that - seemed like the only portable way to do it would be to ditch NSViews and render the pixels directly into its buffer, which would involve some extremely serious changes (not to mention making it impossible to embed things like video).

[peteatjuce]

Hi Jules,

Just to note this page ... https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mac:NPAPI_Event_Models ... last edited by somebody by Apple. I'd put money on all the 64-bit Mac browsers using the Cocoa model. FWIW, I'd bet that this is why the plug-ins don't show under Chrome on Mac ... where there is no 32-bit mode the last I looked ...

Blimey mate - I don't envy you at times like these

Best wishes,

Pete

[cosmo]

So has anybody gotten their plugin to compile & load under OSX Firefox 64bit?

I have a plugin that does not draw anything on the screen, so it's actually working with Safari 64bit. I'm assuming that it would also work in Firefox 64 if i could just get it to be recognized, but FF completely ignores it. When i try to compile it as a 32/64 bit binary i hit the following in npapi.h:

Code: Select all

#if defined(XP_MACOSX) && defined(__LP64__)
#error 64-bit Netscape plug-ins are not supported on Mac OS X
#endif


[jules]

You need to build it with the 10.6 SDK - it has a newer version of the NPAPI headers.

[cosmo]

ah, thanks! i'll give that a try.

[cosmo]

so the juce browser plugin demo does compile fine in 64bit mode, but unfortunately it's still not recognized in Firefox 64bit.

According to http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-contai ... #Firefox_4 even 32bit plugins could run fine in 64bit FF:

Note that not all 32-bit plugins will run on Firefox 4 in 64-bit mode. Only plugins that use the Cocoa version of NPAPI will load; any i386 (32-bit) plugin still using Carbon NPAPI won’t load