flashplugin-installer doesn't use the system proxy settings, so fails to install from behind a filtering proxy / firewall

[Hugh Parker]

Binary package hint: flashplugin-installer

I work at a primary school, and my network is behind a filtering proxy / firewall system. All web traffic is blocked except through the filtering proxy.

I've set the correct proxy settings in the "system / network proxy" box, and clicked "apply system-wide". I've also set the correct proxy settings in Synaptic. I even tried re-starting to see if that would make those settings take effect. Despite this, flashplugin-installer attempts to connect directly to the web, and fails.

I'm using 10.04 lucid 64-bit, and synaptic is trying to install flashplugin-installer 10.1.53.64ubuntu0.10.04.3

Steps to reproduce:
1: Set up a network segment with a firewall.
2: Set up a proxy on the boundary of that segment, or outside it.
3: Block all outward traffic on port 80 except that to the proxy.
4: Attempt to install flashplugin-installer.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: flashplugin-installer 10.1.53.64ubuntu0.10.04.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-24.39-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-24-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Aug 10 11:17:01 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: flashplugin-nonfree

[Hugh Parker (hcp)]

I'm not sure, but maybe this bug is dependent on this one:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wget/+bug/616273

[Andy (biohazd)]

try edit this file and add the 2 lines:
    /var/cache/flashplugin-installer/wgetrc

http_proxy = http://10.0.0.2:3128/
ftp_proxy = http://10.0.0.2:3128/

[Hugh Parker (hcp)]

Andy - it'll be a couple of weeks until I'm next behind a firewall, and I can test that. I've just looked on my system, though, and that file doesn't exist - I'm assuming the installer removes it after it runs. Are you suggesting I replace that file during the installer's execution?

[Andy (biohazd)]

I added the 2 lines to the file /etc/wgetrc :
  http_proxy = http://10.0.0.2:3128/
  ftp_proxy = http://10.0.0.2:3128/

I did a locate for "wgetrc" and found - /var/cache/flashplugin-installer/wgetrc
    So I added those 2 lins in there aswell.

re-running the apt-get upgrade - seemed to then just work.....

[Andy (biohazd)]

andy@me2 ~> sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
  xulrunner-1.9 konqueror-nsplugins msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree xfs
The following NEW packages will be installed
  flashplugin-installer
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/20.0kB of archives.
After this operation, 188kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package flashplugin-installer.
(Reading database ... 209248 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking flashplugin-installer (from .../flashplugin-installer_10.1.82.76ubuntu0.10.04.2_i386.deb) ...
Setting up flashplugin-installer (10.1.82.76ubuntu0.10.04.2) ...
Downloading...
--2010-08-20 09:44:12-- http://archive.canonical.com/pool/partner/a/adobe-flashplugin/adobe-flashplugin_10.1.82.76.orig.tar.gz
Connecting to 10.0.0.2:3128... connected.
Proxy request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 4884791 (4.7M) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: `./adobe-flashplugin_10.1.82.76.orig.tar.gz'

     0K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 322K 15s
    50K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 685K 11s
   100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 608K 10s
   150K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 761K 9s
   200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 524K 9s
   250K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 6% 767K 8s
   300K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 7% 676K 8s
   350K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 8% 749K 7s
.
.
.
  4650K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 98% 645K 0s
  4700K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 99% 669K 0s
  4750K .......... .......... 100% 750K=7.3s

2010-08-20 09:44:19 (651 KB/s) - `./adobe-flashplugin_10.1.82.76.orig.tar.gz' saved [4884791/4884791]

Download done.
Flash Plugin installed.

[Hugh Parker (hcp)]

Thanks, Andy - I'll use that to get the plugin installed. I don't think that helps solve the bug, though.

[Andy (biohazd)]

no its still an annoying little bug..

The server-wide proxy should cover it (sigh)

[Matt Blissett (matt-blissett)]

I had the environment variable http_proxy set correctly, but sudo removes them. You can use the -E flag to sudo to preserve all environment variables. (Compare 'env', 'sudo env' and 'sudo -E env'.)

sudo -E aptitude install flashplugin-installer

worked fine for me. sudo -i ... would probably work too, if your system's environment is set up correctly.

[Hugh Parker (hcp)]

Hmmm. I was installing this package through synaptic. Is this actually a bug in synaptic, rather than in flashplugin-installer?