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Installing Flash on RHEL

I created this post for someone that is new to Red Hat that asked about installing the Flash plugin.  The Flash plugin is actually a really good example to learn with (in my opinion).  It is available from Red Hat as well as Adobe.  And may cause a problem for you when you attempt to do updates.

Which is the first lesson: you have to be selective what non-Red Hat REPOs you add to your system.  I have not encountered an issue with package incompatibilities in quite some time using on Red Hat REPOs.  I cannot say the same about some of the 3rd-party REPOs out there.

NOTE: I am going to intentionally break my system, then correct it.

Add Adobe's REPO
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ wget http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
--2014-02-09 10:29:46--  http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
Resolving linuxdownload.adobe.com... 192.150.16.37
Connecting to linuxdownload.adobe.com|192.150.16.37|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 4256 (4.2K) [application/x-rpm]
Saving to: “adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm”

 100%[======================================>] 4,256       --.-K/s   in 0.05s  

2014-02-09 10:29:47 (82.3 KB/s) - “adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm” saved [4256/4256]

 [jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum localinstall ./adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
Setting up Local Package Process
Examining ./adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm: adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch

View the available versions of flash-plugin

You will now notice there are 2 versions available.  One is an i686 package, the other x86_64.  I have found that the package available from Adobe is functional more consistently than the i686 rpm.  Hence the reason I go through this procedure.
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum list flash-plugin
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
Available Packages
flash-plugin.x86_64   11.2.202.336-release    adobe-linux-x86_64               
flash-plugin.i686     11.2.202.336-1.el6      rhel-x86_64-server-supplementary-6

Cool - simple enough - let's install flash-plugin
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum -y install flash-plugin
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package flash-plugin.x86_64 0:11.2.202.336-release will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

 Dependencies Resolved

 ================================================================================
 Package         Arch      Version                  Repository             Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 flash-plugin    x86_64    11.2.202.336-release     adobe-linux-x86_64    6.9 M

 Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       1 Package(s)

 Total download size: 6.9 M
Installed size: 19 M
Downloading Packages:
flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-release.x86_64.rpm             | 6.9 MB     00:03   
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing : flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-release.x86_64                     1/1
  Verifying  : flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-release.x86_64                     1/1

Installed:
  flash-plugin.x86_64 0:11.2.202.336-release                                  

Complete!
Again - everything seems to be going great.

Now, let's update our system.
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum -y update
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
Setting up Update Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package flash-plugin.x86_64 0:11.2.202.336-release will be updated
---> Package flash-plugin.i686 0:11.2.202.336-1.el6 will be an update
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

 Dependencies Resolved

 ================================================================================
 Package      Arch Version             Repository                          Size
================================================================================
Updating:
 flash-plugin i686 11.2.202.336-1.el6  rhel-x86_64-server-supplementary-6 5.3 M

 Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Upgrade       1 Package(s)

 Total download size: 5.3 M
Downloading Packages:
flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-1.el6.i686.rpm                 | 5.3 MB     00:00   
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Updating   : flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-1.el6.i686                         1/1
  Verifying  : flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-1.el6.i686                         1/2
flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-release.x86_64 was supposed to be removed but is not!
  Verifying  : flash-plugin-11.2.202.336-release.x86_64                     2/2

Updated:
  flash-plugin.i686 0:11.2.202.336-1.el6                                      

Failed:
  flash-plugin.x86_64 0:11.2.202.336-release                                  

Complete!

Why did it add the i686 version, when I already have the x86_64 version?  (That was not rhetorical, I actually DON'T know why that happens)
 There are potentially several methods which this could be corrected (yum-priorities for example) but since this is a single package and probably has no significant use other than for the browser, I am going to do the following:
Remove the i686 version of flash-plugin
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum remove flash-plugin.i686

Add the line in bold to /etc/yum.conf (to ignore the Red Hat version)
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ cat /etc/yum.conf
[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum/$basearch/$releasever
keepcache=0
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
exactarch=1
obsoletes=1
gpgcheck=1
plugins=1
installonly_limit=3
exclude=flash-plugin* 

Now, everything is well again ;-)
[jradtke@apoc ~]$ sudo yum -y update
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
Setting up Update Process
No Packages marked for Update
[jradtke@apoc ~]$

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