Adobe Flash availability after 2020?

[antbal]

It's been known Adobe terminates flash support by end of 2020, however companies are interested what happens after 2020 - is it possible still to run Flash in major browsers, just without support?  Asking to have plan B if companies won't finish migration by end of 2020, and what are possible workarounds?

Microsoft support told that it depends on Adobe, if they keep flash still available.

thanks!

[Aditya5E76]

Hi _maria_

I was able to install flash for firefox.

However, I wish to test configuring the below parameters in mms.cfg file

EOLUninstallDisable=1
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0
EnableAllowList=1
AutoUpdateDisable=1
ErrorReportingEnable=1
AllowListUrlPattern=http://abc.com/*

I tried setting the parameters as above in the file (utf-8) but whitelisting doesnt seem to work properly.

I set specific website in below parameter, but flash is still allowing the content from other website.

Ex- 

website to be allowed: http://abc.com/

AllowListUrlPattern=http://abc.com/*

Flash still loaded content from http://xyz.com/

Please advise how to configure the whitelisting in flash properly?

I also wish to whitelist two websites, how can I add them to above parameter?

Thanks in advance

Aditya

[Aditya5E76]

Hi,

I'm able to whitelist a pair of flash player and Firefox.
However, I'm unable to whitelist another webpage which has port numbers.
Can anyone advise how can I make, flash player read wildcard for portnumber in whitelist url pattern?
Landing page has port number 7000 while content resides on other ports.
Is it possible to use wildcard for port numbers or to allow all ports in this domain/subdomain automatically?

AllowlistUrlPattern=https://www.example.com/ -- didnt work
AllowlistUrlPattern=https://www.example.com:*/ -- didnt work

Instead of coding as below, can anyone suggest a wildcard for ports?
AllowlistUrlPattern=https://www.example.com:7000/
AllowlistUrlPattern=https://www.example.com:7600/

Thanks,
Aditya

[MauricioB82B]

Hello,

Can you share your mms.cfg file?

I'm trying to change the date of my PC, load my Flex application with Firefox ESR and flash player 32 but it always block my application.

I'm trying this configuration in mms.cfg:

SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0
AutoUpdateDisable=1
EOLUninstallDisable=1
EnabledAllowList=1
TraceOutputEcho=1
AllowListPreview=1
AllowListUrlPattern=http://localhost/

Thanks in advance,

Mauricio

[MauricioB82B]

Ok,

It looks like it was a problem with my flash player version, I updated to version 32.0.0.433 and tested again, it works on Windows 10, Firefox ESR and Flash Player Debugger version 32.0.0.433 with this mms.cfg:

EOLUninstallDisable=1
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0
EnableAllowList=1
AutoUpdateDisable=1
ErrorReportingEnable=1
AllowListUrlPattern=http://localhost/

[jstevenson37]

Alexei5D13 & MauricioB82B,

Have you tried those settings with a non-local site, especially a secure site? I haven't been able to get around the 1/1/2021 End of Life animation. (I also have the 32.0.0.433 debug player for Firefox, and the same mms.cfg as MauricioB82B, other than the domain name.)

Thanks, Jim

[jstevenson37]

It looks like the 32.0.0.238 debug player (August 2019) does not include the 1/1/2021 bomb. I installed that and it works fine after the setting my clock to any 2021 date. I do not know what is the latest version that does prevent use, but at least that one is fine.

[Farley0D4D]

Unfortunately, Adobe is not supplying any older versions of Flash Player.  The decommissioned the pages to retrieve older versions.

[wfredk]

"Documented in troubleshooting"  Sorry for my ignorance, but where is the "troubleshooting" you are referring to?

[Farley0D4D]

Hi,

I have used basically the identical mms.cfg file as Mecurio, but it still does not work.  When it gets to the point in the application where it asks to get to Flash, I get taken to a screen with a logo and when you click on the logo you get taken to a screen with all the Adobe informatoon about Flash being EOL.

Oh, and interestingly enough, in my testing the "time bomb" goes off on 1/12/2021, not 1/1/2021 as I would have expected.

WHY Adobe cannot just give SPECIFIC examples of mms.cfg files that have been tested as opposed to just links to the Admin manual, is beyond me!  They can add disclaimers to the effect that just because it worked for them, it may not work in a given users environment as well as disclaimers that they strongly recommend against this in any event.  The people at Adobe should be ashamed how disrectful of the customer base they are being.  They should have just put the source code out into the public domain!

[alfredcertain]

I do understand your situation and share the same worries about it. If you have found any solution to this issue, I would appreciate to keep in contact with you and learn about them.

[antbal]

we are working on backup solution from 2021 to run chrome browser using app-V,  where we disable chrome browser from updates. that's a temporary solution until we finalize our project.

[Alexei5D13]

We tested Flash with enterprise Firefox - this combination will work in
2021, and you can disable FF updates using registry (but as I know, they
will continue to support Flash in enterprise version).

Chrome shows that it is behind the trend, again, by not providing
enterprise solutions. Not a surprise (I need to switch to FF in a few cases
when Chrome refuses to work).

[Justin5E36]

I'm using the 32.0.0.344 version of the Flash player. Will that be useable next year even though Flash won't be supported anymore? In fact, is there a way to protect your own Flash player?

[Greg Dove]

For others still looking to port Flex apps to html5, Apache Royale (https://royale.apache.org/) can provide another reasonable option. It still requires some effort (mostly in UI parts) when porting apps, but because Apache Royale supports actionscript 3 and mxml for targeting the browser, large parts of the original business logic code can usually be retained as-is. Apache Royale is open source (and the community is receptive to new people getting involved if you want to join in with the effort). Although there are some Flex 'emulation' component sets which may make porting from the original mxml easier, there are also other modern approaches such as Jewel: https://royale.apache.org/tourdejewel/.

[Robert Mc Dowell]

Hi Greg,

what about NetConnection, NetStream and Stage3D classes?

[Greg Dove]

Hi Robert, it's fair to say that most of the effort for Royale has been focused on the Flex classes, without trying to emulate everything at the flash.* package level. But, to be clear, there are already many commonly used flash.* classes that are emulated in some way. For example AMF3 serialization/deserialization is currently supported (via AMFBinaryData instead of ByteArray) and so regular remoting service calls (http) are currently supported via some basic 'NetConnection' emulation. But rtmp data streaming connections are not currently emulated. I think this could very likely be addressed for rtmp data-only streaming if there was enough demand and shared effort (I believe something similar has been done in the past via websockets in other projects, such as Mozilla Shumway). I am part of the Royale community and I have had conversations with others about this, but we did not get started on it yet. For rtmp video and audio streaming I am far less confident about those, but I also have not looked into it in any way. I think that among the issues there would probably be related to the codecs which the flash player has that may not be available.

Stage3D is not currently emulated because it has not been a priority as it was not an essential part of 'Flex' and because Flex apps (very generally) did not tend to use it (although I have worked on a Flex app that does). Probably there could be a way to use other established libraries that support Stage3D emulation. e.g from OpenFL javascript library for example. OpenFL is more focused on emulating lower level flash apis, whereas Royale is more focused on Flex/mxml level and has a more direct-to-browser lower level implemenation of things at the 'display' level. Because it is possible to integrate 3rd party javascript libraries into Royale by creating Royale 'typedefs' that define the api in as3, then it might be possible to have an alternate Stage3D emulation 'below' the Royale app, similar to how it works with the real 'stage' approach in the flash player. Just some thoughts for now, hope that helps.

[Robert Mc Dowell]

Thanks Greg for the details, as Royale is in JS do you think in the near Future it will be compiled into WebAssembly with emscripten or else?

[Greg Dove]

There has certainly been interest expressed in making WebAssembly supported as another Royale target, I had understood that was direct as opposed to generating output for emscripten. And there is generally a longer term interest in adding other targets, such as native targets for mobile, beyond the currently supported Node, browsers (and mobile or desktop apps via Cordova or Electron). But I am not aware of others working on any of that at this point, so I would not describe any of this as 'near future'. If you have relevant knowledge and interest in achieving WebAssembly targeting, then I can only suggest you sign up to the dev mailing list and get involved. Progress is really only limited by the availability and willingness of people to contribute. One of the benefits of working on an open source project is that we can all help create the ecosystem that makes sense for all of us, to fill some of the gaps left behind after flash player demise, in this case.

[carlos_rovira_royale]

Hi,

just to complement to what Greg Dove said and for people insterested in Apache Royale. A part from Tour De Jewel I can give you some links that could show what can be done with this new technology:

• Royale TodoMVC running example: https://royale.apache.org/todomvc-jewel
• Royale TodoMVC Source Code (Jewel): https://github.com/apache/royale-asjs/tree/develop/examples/jewel/todomvc
• Royale TodoMVC Source Code using advanced (Jewel+Crux): https://github.com/apache/royale-asjs/tree/develop/examples/crux/todomvc-jewel-crux

Some instersting links about Royale:

• Web site: http://royale.apache.org/
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/apacheroyale
• Facebook Royale Page: https://www.facebook.com/ApacheRoyaleSDK
• LinkedIn Royale Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12118437/

We''ll be doing some talks in few days in at ApacheCon Home: https://twitter.com/carlosrovira/status/1296017685789257729

The talk about "Starting from a blank file" will cover the TodoMVC examples.

If you're interested join us in our user and/or dev mailing lists here: https://royale.apache.org/mailing-lists/

HTH

Carlos

[Gino5EB4]

Does anyone know what the Harman solution will cost for 100/1000/10000/100000 seats?

[Justin5E36]

Are you sure there is actually a way to use flash after 2020? I do not believe that this is actually true.

[Farley0D4D]

Your partner Harman is charging an exhorbitant amount for their solutions.  Small companies with a short term need could never justify the costs.

[Farley0D4D]

Two points.

1) The Harman option is going to be prohibitively expense for many organization!  I wonder it Adobe has a stake in them or otherwise receives "kickbacks" from Harman!

2) Users everywhere should boycott Adobe and stop using their products!  Did they give 3 years notice? Well yes they did.  Did anyone know there was going to be a worldwide pandemic that require IT resources to be focuse elsewhere?  No one knew!  But does Adobe care?  Clearly the answer is NO. They could delay the EOL of Flash in deference to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated ramifications, but they chose not to.  SHAME ON ADOBE.  SHAME!

[Alexei5D13]

What is interesting - I installed CentOS7, FireFox esr, and flash player -
and this combination works pretty well, do not have any kill switches
(tested) and esr itself (Linux version) is not affected by dumb 'removals'
proposed by FF.

But we tested Windows FF esr + flash as well, with adobe config file - this
combination works (tested on 2021 dates) but we must disable FF updates (by
network policy) as we can not risk having it suddenly broken (we have too
many very important intranet services on it). of course, we found and saved
full adobe installer, to prevent adobe from bloking downloads

PS. As usual, killing flash causes a huge security hole in enterprises
which must disable automatic updates to keep service running. I saw it too
many times (java is a good example - we keep old windows2000 and up to run
java to support old hardware, yes we do it in sandboxes and in safe places
but anyway, I prefer to have a way to manage it from current systems). Ok,
one more sandbox to freeze FF and ADOBE, not a big deal in today-s virtual
world.

[Test Screen Name]

But what will you do once your Flash Player distribution license runs out? I doubt they will be renewed after EOL, so all corporate rights to install will lapse.