Configuring dpkg stops processing when calling an HTTP request to Adobe Flash Player

Question

I recently moved to Linux, and I am in love with the experience. Opinions apart, I am having problems when running

sudo dpkg --configure -a

My computer stops processing the command here:

You may know Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported, and I believe that could be why the command is unable to load pepperflashplugin-nonfree.

I have tried fixing the problem by checking older posts here, but none of them was able to fix this problem.

Thomas Ward · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-27T17:36:09.427

5

Unfortunately, with Flash having reached EOL and it no longer being supported, the only option you have to fix this is to remove the package and anything depending on it.

sudo apt remove pepperflashplugin-nonfree

The above command will simply remove the package, thereby no longer hanging up on Adobe's "Flash is End of Life" page. This does, however, prohibit you from running Flash content now. (Though, most of the browsers on the market have already disallowed the Flash plugin because of the December 31, 2020 EOL date)

NOTE: As of January 19, 2020, the process has begun to make the pepperflashplugin-nonfree package a 'dummy package' that removes the existing Flash plugins and then doesn't install Flash anymore. This came as an OEM request, and is in the process of being SRU'd.

As of January 26, 2020, a Stable Release Update has been released for pepperflashplugin-nonfree that essentially fixes this issue and kills Flash installed by the package. This was an OEM request, and is now live, and SHOULD resolve the issue being observed by people running into PepperFlash hanging dpkg and apt installs.

edited Jan 27 '21 at 17:36

answered Jan 04 '21 at 15:31

Thomas Ward

74,764

2

Note that Flash will stop running Flash content after January 12th. If running Flash content is still needed after that date, it needs to be specially configured. I have written more about this here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1278979/what-possibilities-to-use-flash-will-be-there-after-eol/1279175#1279175 – raj Jan 04 '21 at 16:03
@raj However, you need to be aware that browsers may disable the plugin regardless of specialized configuration - browsers can determine to simply blacklist the plugin themselves (even with specialized configuration) – Thomas Ward Jan 04 '21 at 23:07
Yes, and that's why you need to keep a separate browser instance in a version that still supports Flash. – raj Jan 05 '21 at 10:13

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 07 '21 at 20:03

1

If sudo apt purge pepperflashplugin-nonfree doesn't work, reboot and then run:

sudo dpkg -P pepperflashplugin-nonfree 
sudo dpkg --configure -a

edited Jan 07 '21 at 20:03

Kulfy

17,696

answered Jan 07 '21 at 19:56

Mugdho MNS.

119

... which is basically the same commands called by apt - so if removing it with apt doesn't work removing it with dpkg directly probably won't work either ;) – Thomas Ward Jan 08 '21 at 03:14
I had the same issue yesterday and it worked for me. – Mugdho MNS. Jan 08 '21 at 03:34
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1305914/need-help-with-removing-opera-browser – Mugdho MNS. Jan 08 '21 at 03:37
your system was in the middle of updates, that's why you ran into the lock issue. sudo apt purge is still the safe approach. – Thomas Ward Jan 08 '21 at 03:54

Configuring dpkg stops processing when calling an HTTP request to Adobe Flash Player

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