Linux: Adobe conditions Flash Player to Google Chrome

Unless you use Google Chrome, Flash Player will no longer be available on Linux distributions.

This was a rather surprising announcement made by Adobe. While version 11.2 of Flash Player is currently being developed and should be released by the middle of the year, this engine should be the last of its kind distributed by Adobe for Linux.

Adobe explains that they are working with Google to develop a more modern API which provides better interaction between the plug-in’s and Web browsers. This will be PPAPI (Pepper Plugin API; Pepper project) which is looking to replace NPAPI (Netscape Plugin API) that is currently used by Flash Player.

Mozilla was at one stage interested by the Pepper project before abandoning the idea. Today, even if PPAPI is a cross-platform API for browser plug-in’s, we will only find it implemented in Google Chrome (and Chromium) as an experimental function.


Flash Player for Linux: Chrome required
After publishing Flash Player 11.2, the other plug-in versions allowing you to surf under Linux will use PPAPI. These will only be distributed via integration into Google Chrome, with Adobe no longer making direct downloads from their site available. It should be noted that security updates will continue to be provided for five years after the release of Flash Player 11.2 for Linux.

For the moment, the only real consequences are for Linux distributions. While Google Chrome versions for Windows and OS X will also integrate Flash Player based on PPAPI, the non-Pepper Flash Player plug-in will continue to be supported by browsers.