YJL

A few hours ago, Gmail announced a new video and chat plugin for Linux users. I am a 64-bit user, pure one, there is no 32-bit library on my system. I wasn’t going to try because 1) I am not into online IM chatting not to mention this voice and video chatting and 2) I don’t believe that Google would release a 64-bit stuff.

But you know curiosity killed the cat, so I went to download, just to file to find out if they are 64-bit build or just 32-bit as my expectation. I ran

ar -x google-talkplugin_current_amd64.deb
tar xf data.tar.gz
cd opt/google/talkplugin

Now, it’s about to see the truth:

% file * */*
GoogleTalkPlugin:         ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.8, stripped
cron:                     directory
lib:                      directory
libnpgoogletalk64.so:     ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped
libnpgtpo3dautoplugin.so: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped
cron/google-talkplugin:   POSIX shell script text executable
lib/libCg.so:             ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped
lib/libCgGL.so:           ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped</pre>

(Side note: you can see there is a cron, Google installs a cron job to update .deb package, so this plugin would never get outdated. I really can not agree with this automatic method. (I assume that it’s automatic, I didn’t read that script))

I was shocked, twice! First shock was there did have 64-bit shared library and the second shock was why the hell this GoogleTalkPlugin is a 32-bit build? I couldn’t understand. As far as I know, the browser plugin uses shared library, so that 32-bit stuff shouldn’t be a problem, it must be some kind of desktop manager for the plugin, it’s worth trying. (I was wrong. :()

So, I tried to install it:

chmod +x *.so lib/*.so
cp *.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/
sudo cp lib/* /usr/lib64/

I installed them in Mozilla’s (Firefox’s) plugin directory, so Chromium can also use it. After restarted browser, I got a good sign from Chromium and Firefox.

So, I recompiled my kernel with required modules. Rebooted, got into Gmail in Chromium, went to setting. Nothing!? Switched to Firefox, still nothing.

Then, I ran Chromium from command-line, I got this log:

[000:017] Warning(clientchannel.cc:583): Unreadable or no port file.  Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[000:022] Warning(clientchannel.cc:439): Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[000:022] Warning(optionsfile.cc:22): Load: Could not open file
[000:022] Warning(clientchannel.cc:553): Failed to get GoogleTalkPlugin path. Trying default.
[000:025] Started GoogleTalkPlugin, path=/opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin
[000:025] Waiting for GoogleTalkPlugin to start...
[001:098] Warning(clientchannel.cc:583): Unreadable or no port file.  Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[001:099] Warning(clientchannel.cc:439): Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[001:099] Waiting for GoogleTalkPlugin to start...
[002:190] Warning(clientchannel.cc:583): Unreadable or no port file.  Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[002:191] Warning(clientchannel.cc:439): Could not initiate GoogleTalkPlugin connection
[002:191] Waiting for GoogleTalkPlugin to start...

I could only say “!@#$%^, Google!”

If your system is multilib, I think you have good chance to get it running, just move that 32-bit stuff to /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.

Google, please re-build GoogleTalkPlugin for 64-bit! Pretty please?