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

[John Gruenenfelder]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 07:44:14AM -0700, Rich wrote:
> 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...

As far as I know, Java's plugin does not work with nspluginwrapper and there
don't appear to be any plans to make it work.

But, the latest Java packages, not sure if it is just GCJ or a combination of
that and OpenJDK-6, come with a working plugin.  On Debian and Ubuntu the
package is called icedtea-gcjwebplugin.  I've used it recently on some Ubuntu
machines and it worked just fine... which makes me wonder why it's taking Sun
so long with their plugin.

> 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?

I'm assuming this is for system consistency and to avoid the need of having
two copies of every library installed, one for 32bit and one for 64bit.  Just
as they are different on disk, they'll be different in memory so they can't be
shared thus increasing memory usage.

Shared libraries and a desire to not maintain two of everything (or, most
everything) for a single system is, I think, enough of an advantage to warrant
keeping a system all 32bit or all 64bit (at least, close to that).

Early in the 64bit transition on Linux there was some talk about designing a
merged system where the directory layout and package manager were aware of
32/64 bit versions of things and kept them straight (the linker can already do
this).  I believe Solaris and IRIX (and proabably others) do this.  But, that
idea never seemed to gain traction, probably because it was to much work for
the gains to be had.  Also, by the time 64bit CPUs have arrived to the masses
(i.e. now) you can reasonably expect most vendors to ship 64bit binaries "Real
Soon Now".  This was definitely not the case when the first 64bit Sun CPUs
arrived, for example.


-- 
--John Gruenenfelder    Systems Manager, MKS Imaging Technology, LLC.
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