chromium-browser: No Java Pepper Plugin available

[ramgorur]

I was using google chrome browser on Ubuntu 12.04 machine, recently I needed to switch to chromium-browser. I am using the version that is available on the Ubuntu software centre. The problem is that I can't make java applets to load any more.

Here is my situation --

 1. I am using vanilla jdk (jdk 1.7.0_51) from the oracle site.
 2. Previously in chrome, I have created a symlink of `libnpjp2.so` to the `/opt/google/chrome/plugins` folder, java applets were working fine.
 3. After uninstalling chrome and installing chromium-browser, I made a symlink of `libnpjp2.so` to `/usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins` folder, but java applets do not fire up any more (even from this site: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp)
 4. Even `libnpjp2.so` appears in `about:plugins` in chromium-browser and showing it's enabled.

What I have tried so far --

 1. After uninstalling chrome, the `/opt/google/chrome` was still there, I removed it
 2. Made the symlink as the point 3 above to `/usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins`, but no luck.
 3. So, I installed `icedtea-7-plugins` from the Ubuntu repo and made a symlink of `IcedTeaPlugin.so` to `/usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins`, but no luck, so I removed it.
 4. Even added the java applet test page to the exclusion list in the java control panel.
 5. Even cleared temporary internet files from the java control panel.
 6. Did multiple cycles of "enable/disable" java plugins in chromium-browser.
 7. Firing up the chromium-browser with `-enable-plugins` switch did not work.

When I go to the java applet test page, what I can only see is a grey rectangle, nothing else. Please note, everything was working fine on chrome browser and also in firefox. Please also note that I do not want to install openjdk stuffs.

any idea ?

lsb_release -rd:

Description: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
Release: 12.04

chromium-browser:
  Installed: 33.0.1750.152-0ubuntu0.12.04.1~pkg879.1
  Candidate: 33.0.1750.152-0ubuntu0.12.04.1~pkg879.1
  Version table:
 *** 33.0.1750.152-0ubuntu0.12.04.1~pkg879.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/universe amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     18.0.1025.151~r130497-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe amd64 Packages

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Fabio Marzocca (thesaltydog)]

Doesn't work on 14.04 either.

[udippel (udippel)]

It explicitly does not work on 14.04 after the update from 13.10.

Do we have a tag 'regression'?
The worst part is, that Dr. Google always starts by returning a dozen websites stating that:
sudo apt-get install icedtea-7-plugin openjdk-7-jre
would do it. No idea from whence they get this??

[Jostein (josteinaj)]

It doesn't work for me anymore either. I think it stopped working when I upgraded to 14.04.

[Anthony Fok (foka)]

A good answer to this issue is provided here:

    http://askubuntu.com/questions/450683/java-plugin-in-chromium

Quote:

    Java (IcedTea) doesn't have a PPAPI plugin available,
    and so it's not usable in Chromium, since Chromium 34 in Trusty
    has switched to the Aura rendering framework
    and no longer allows NPAPI plugins.
    See also https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1308783.

Glossary:

    NPAPI: Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface,
                  "a cross-platform plugin architecture used by many web browsers.

    PPAPI: Pepper Plugin API,
                  "a set of modifications to NPAPI to make plugins more portable and more secure"

[David Lenz (dtl135dtl135)]

Google Chrome 35 has dropped support for NPAPI plugins (so icedtea no longer works there). Is there a plan to make a PPAPI-compatible version of icedtea?

[Titantux (israel-m-dj)]

Just to let you know than, had to rollback to Chrome 33.0.1750.152-1 in order to get working again java besides others plugins again on Ubuntu 14.04.

If you have and urgent case here is the link where you are able to download previous versions:

http://mirror.pcbeta.com/google/chrome/deb/pool/main/g/google-chrome-stable/

Regards,
Titantux

[Javier Domingo (txomon)]

I have tracked down to this bug, which seems to be the source of java applets not working on chromium.

Is any update on this bug?

[Aazores (aazores)]

Yes, this is indeed the cause for Java applets no longer working in Chrome/Chromium - Google has removed the plugin API which IcedTea-Web uses. We haven't yet determined if it is even possible to create a port of IcedTea-Web to PPAPI, due to the sandboxing and other restrictions Google places on extensions built with Pepper/Native Client.

[Mattias-eliasson (mattias-eliasson)]

There are a relevant discussion about this here: http://www.firebreath.org/display/documentation/Browser+Plugins+in+a+post-NPAPI+world

The short answer are that there are no sufficient replacement for NPAPI in Chrome. Chromium are open source so it could potentially be modified.

Currently my brightest idea are to use DLL injection and override the entire engine component with something similar to Chrome Frame. If we simply run another browser engine, such as a modified Chromium engine with NPAPI-support, that might work. Or an engine that do not require any hacking such as Qt WebKit which supports NPAPI plugins out of the box.

Another option would be to make a completely Chrome-compatible browser out of Chromium, which are what the Qt WebEngine are all about. Such a browser could be entirely FOSS and shipped with Linux distributions. A mayor problem would be the Flash plugin which may require that Chrome are also installed. As a system admin I would like to avoid installing Chrome in such a scenario, or at least hide it well.

[helpcrypto (helpcrypto)]

Altough a bug report is not the best place to chat, I'll give you my 2 cents:

 - Assume you arent going to use Chrome for a while. Firefox, Safari and IE will work.
 - If possible, use JNLP. AFAIK it will continue working.
 - If you, like me, are using applets for electronic signature, probably the best option is to keep praying for Webcrypto+FIDO

Regards.

[Redsandro (redsandro)]

IcedTea is an NPAPI plugin and is no longer supported by the latest Chromium builds.
The Java library is called `libnpjp2.so`, and I am /guessing/ that "libnp" means this is also NPAPI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI#Browser_support

_Google Chrome / Chromium: In September 2013, Google announced that NPAPI support in Chrome would be phased out during 2014 because "NPAPI’s 90s-era architecture has become a leading cause of hangs, crashes, security incidents, and code complexity."_

[Varun Mittal (viral.mutant)]

What is the work around for getting it working on 14.04 ?

[Vincent Gerris (vgerris)]

There is no work around for version 35.
You can revert to an earlier version, use Firefox or develop a PPAPI based plugin is developed.
I hope this bug report is the base for a solution.

[Peter (zyzynka)]

Happened to me when I switched to qiana (from petra). Titantux's link to version 33 is the solution until PPAPI plugin comes to existence.

[David Dombrowsky (davek)]

Sounds like a rather suspicious move on Google's part, to break support for the open source API and force people to use Oracle's closed-source JAVA solution. Do not like. Chrome just went way down in my book.

[Fredrik Wendt (fredrik-wendt)]

Related "upstream" bugs:
    Chromium: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=375909
    Iced-Tea: http://icedtea.classpath.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1791

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

Also reported to
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1309508>

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

Plug-ings will be dropped from both Chromium and Firefox, so fixing this bug won't have any impact in medium term.

[Jvanek (jvanek)]

ITW provides little fall back in form of "javaws -html some.html.page.url"
But yes, it have to much cases when it is useless.

Long story short, there is no plan for PPAPI.

If you wont one. Please contribute!

[David Lenz (dtl135dtl135)]

Fair enough. Thanks.

[David Thomson (kp-ubuntu1-5k)]

I am not an expert, but somehow I got Java working in Chromium on one of my Ubuntu computers. All my software is updated to current versions. If someone wants to guide me through a process of discovery, I can find out how I got it to work. I would like to know what I did, as I need to install Java on newer machines.