Webcast support for 64-bit Linux systems

WebEx only supports the following Linux operating systems:

  • 32-bit Fedora 13/14
  • 32-bit Red Hat 5
  • 32-bit OpenSuSE 11.2/11.3
  • 32-bit Ubuntu 10.x

Viewing a webcast from opensource.com may present a problem if you are on something other than the supported platforms listed above. We found instructions written for Fedora 12 that may be useful. The work-around is to install a 32-bit version of Firefox with Java and Flash.

Configuring a standalone Firefox browser for accessing WebEx on Fedora 12 x86_64

by Travis Gummels

One means of successfully accessing WebEx from Fedora 12 x86_64 is to use a 32-bit version of Mozilla Firefox with Sun JRE and Adobe Flash 32-bit plugins.

Why 32-bit?

  1. Per the JRE download site, the 64-bit version does not have support for java applets or Java Web Start (JWS is required to run another WebEx like app named Elluminate).

  2. Per the WebEx System Requirements page only, 32-bit versions of Linux are supported.

What's needed?

Access to the root account so you can install the necessary i686 rpms.

Mozilla Firefox (default available download is 32-bit at time of writing)

Adobe Flash (get the tar.gz for Linux package, default 32-bit at time of writing)

Sun JRE Linux Self Extracting file (not x64)

The following i686 RPM's should be installed:

alsa-lib.i686
dbus-glib.i686
glibc.i686
gtk2-engines.i686
gtk2.i686
libcanberra-gtk2.i686
libcurl.i686
libXt.i686
nss.i686
PackageKit-gtk-module.i686

Installation

Note: the downloaded software names are only current as of this writing

pwd = /home/username

$ mkdir firefox32

$ cd firefox32

Firefox installation

$ tar -jxf ~/Downloads/firefox-3.6.3.tar.bz2

$ mkdir .mozilla  <-- this is for the profile creation later

Java JRE installation

$ chmod +x ~/Downloads/jre-6u20-linux-i586.bin

$ ~/Downloads/jre-6u20-linux-i586.bin

Scroll to the end of the agreement and accept it.
...
Do you agree to the above license terms? [yes or no]
yes
...

$ ln -s jre1.6.0_20 java

Add in the plugins:

$ cd firefox/plugins

Flash:

$ tar xf ~/Downloads/install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz   <-- provides libflashplayer.so

Java:

$ ln -s ../../java/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

$ ls
libflashplayer.so  libnpjp2.so  libnullplugin.so

Using your favorite text editor, create ~/firefox32/firefox32.sh for starting up the browser:

Take everything between the scissors -- 8< -- below


-- 8< --

#!/bin/sh

export FIREFOX32HOME=~/firefox32
export PATH=${FIREFOX32HOME}/firefox:${FIREFOX32HOME}/java/bin:$PATH
export JAVA_HOME=${FIREFOX32HOME}/java
export MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH=${FIREFOX32HOME}/firefox/plugins
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib64

firefox -no-remote -P Firefox32

-- 8< --

Then change the permissions:

$ chmod +x ~/firefox32/firefox32.sh

Configuration

Start firefox using the firefox32.sh script:

$ ~/firefox32/firefox32.sh

Upon first execution of the script the profile manager should come up.  Create a new profile named Firefox32 and change the directory to the firefox32 directory + .mozilla i.e. /home/username/firefox32/.mozilla.  To change the directory click the Choose Folder button which should be directly below the Enter new profile name text entry box. In the profile manager interface one can leave "Don't ask at startup" checked as the firefox32.sh script above explicitly uses the Firefox32 profile just defined.

Enable Java Web Start - In order for JWS to function the jnlp file type has to be associated with the Java Web Start executable installed with the Java JRE (javaws located in ~/firefox32/java/javaws). The easiest means found for doing this is to find a file of type jnlp and attempt to open it which results in Firefox asking what to do with it.  Set the file association so that the javaws executable is used when files of this type are encountered. Possible locations for a jnlp file are:

Testing

Visit the following web pages and see if Flash, Java and WebEx function as they should (valid as of time of writing)

Additional notes

On Fedora 14, there has been an issue with javaws and selinux.  Read more at Bugzilla 572791.

The work-around is to: sudo setsebool -P allow_execstack 1

Document updates

We'd like to keep this document relevant for users on 64-bit systems who need to use WebEx. If you find an error or want to contribute an udpate to this page, you can contact us with your corrections or additions. No technical support inquiries please.