flashplugin-nonfree won't detect a failed download

[Ryan]

Binary package hint: flashplugin-nonfree

I attempted to install flash earlier, and found that it wouldn't work even after a reboot and multiple uninstall/install attempts. I was using synaptic and decided to pop open the terminal view to see what was happening. It turns out that the download from adobe wasn't working. Either they moved the file or the site was down, regardless the file never got downloaded. Synaptic, however, is perfectly fine with that and reports a successful install!!!

I'm glad I checked the terminal view or else I'd probably still be here tearing my hair out trying to figure out why nothing was working. If the download fails, synaptic should kick out an error, not just go along with it and report a successful installation when nothing has actually been installed.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Open synaptic or browse to a site with flash and click the install missing plugins button
2) Stop the download from working (if adobe's site is actually up, manually disconnect or block with a firewall, whatever)
3) Watch synaptic ignore the download failed error
4) Verify that despite the "Installation Successful" message, nothing actually got installed

[Ryan (brosz)]

Output when running apt-get from a terminal:

brosz@dweia:~$ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
  konqueror-nsplugins libflashsupport msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree xfs
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  flashplugin-nonfree
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/18.7kB of archives.
After this operation, 168kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package flashplugin-nonfree.
(Reading database ... 113439 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking flashplugin-nonfree (from .../flashplugin-nonfree_9.0.124.0ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Setting up flashplugin-nonfree (9.0.124.0ubuntu2) ...
Downloading...
--05:59:05-- http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
           => `./install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz'
Resolving fpdownload.macromedia.com... failed: Name or service not known.
download failed
The Flash plugin is NOT installed.

Notice how it says the flash plugin is not installed? Let's try running that again:

brosz@dweia:~$ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
flashplugin-nonfree is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Whoops. Definitely a problem.