[Tfug] 32-bit browser plugins on 64-bit OS

[Rich]

*dodges the tumbleweed*

Time for a puzzler.

RHEL and CentOS come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. They've recently  
upgraded the browser in v4.7 to Firefox 3.x.  I guess these are  
CentOS related, because RedHat has made it clear to me that they  
won't support any of these options.

Here's the difficulty. Without moving to an alternate browser (Opera,  
for instance), how can I get *all* the useful 32-bit plugins to  
function properly?

These are: Acrobat Reader, Flash, Java, and Helix (Real)

First option: nspluginwrapper
So far, I have the 64-bit Firefox, with some 64-bit plugins, plus  
nspluginwrapper, which provides a platform for 32-bit plugins on 64- 
bit browsers.

Acroread, flash, and helix work fine. But the 32-bit java plugin  
doesn't work. I get something similar to this (not at the box right now)

   # nspluginwrapper -i <path-to-java-plugin>
   This is not a valid NPAPI plugin

I know the next version of Java is supposed to include a 64-bit  
plugin. Great. So in six months time I'll stop asking...

Second option: 32-bit browser
Next line of attack was to use a 32-bit Firefox. Here's how this fails:

* removed 64-bit Firefox
* installed 32-bit Firefox and the *advertised* dependencies from the  
media
* installed the *secret* dependencies (libcairo and libpangocairo)

Now when I launch firefox, it complains it requires GTK+ 2.10 or  
greater.

RHEL4.x uses GTK+ 2.4, but RedHat backported Firefox 3.x so it can  
run on GTK+ 2.4 instead.

So, I'm wondering if anyone's determined what else is needed to get  
Firefox 32-bit to realize it's been backported, and that GTK+2.4 is  
okay!

This wouldn't be a problem if GTK+ was at 2.10, but that would mean  
upgrading half the OS -- to run the Java plugin.

Question 3: is there a portable 32-bit Firefox that installs anywhere  
(y'know, like Windows and Mac have?)

Question 4 (marked philosophical/OT): Why bother with 64-bit browsers  
at all? The point of 64-bit apps is to gain access to >4GB of RAM.  
But if your browser is using more than 4GB of RAM, there's a problem,  
right?

R.