How to install Adobe Air in Ubuntu 8.04 [64-bit]

[linuxed]

UPDATED: 20/02/10
This guide has been updated for Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic). Please note that this guide is only for 64-bit users. If you are running a 32-bit operating system then you won't need quite a few of the steps listed here.


The Adobe website currently offers a Linux version of their Air runtime. Unfortunately the current version is only available to install on 32-bit platforms. The Air runtime actually runs quite well on 64-bit platforms but getting it installed requires a few extra steps. This guide will attempt to walk you through the process of installing the Air runtime in a 64-bit environment. As a time saver you may want to simply copy the text below from the code boxes and paste it directly into your terminal window.


The first step is to download the Air runtime from here. You will also need to download the ia32-air-libs archive attached to this post. Make sure to download these files to your desktop as the steps below assume that the files can be found in your desktop folder.

1. Once you have those files downloaded you need to install the ia32-libs package if it is not already installed.
   

   sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

2. The ia32-air-libs.tar.gz file contains a few 32-bit libraries that are missing from the ia32-libs package but are necessary for either installing air, installing air apps, or running air apps. The missing libraries may not present any immediate problems and you can probably get through the installation without them, however you will eventually discover errors with certain air apps if these libraries are missing. If you decide to continue without installing these libraries then you may be presented with the following error during installation.
   

   (setup:6859): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/libqtcurve.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64

   Type the following to extract the libraries to your lib32 folder.
   

   sudo tar --overwrite -xf ~/Desktop/ia32-air-libs.tar.gz -C /usr/lib32

3. You're now ready to install Air so make the bin file executable.
   

   chmod +x ~/Desktop/AdobeAIR*.bin

4. And now start the installation.
   

   ~/Desktop/AdobeAIR*.bin

5. Click "I agree" and then enter your system password when prompted.
6. After the installation you'll need to move one of the adobe libraries to your lib32 folder. If you don't move this library then the following error will be displayed anytime you try to install an air app.
   

   /usr/bin/"Adobe AIR Application Installer"
   
   Error loading the runtime (libadobecertstore.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

   Move the library with the following command.
   

   sudo mv /usr/lib/libadobecertstore.so /usr/lib32

7. For whatever reason Adobe chose to use an extremely long and inconvenient filename for their app installer shortcut (/usr/bin/Adobe AIR Application Installer). If you plan on installing any apps from the command line I'd recommend creating a new and much easier to remember shortcut.
   

   sudo ln -s "/opt/Adobe AIR/Versions/1.0/Adobe AIR Application Installer" /usr/sbin/airinstall

8. To install an air app from the command line type the following.
   

   airinstall /full/path/to/app.air

[yawl]

Thank you!

There is one step missing:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libsmime3.so.1d /usr/lib32/libsmime3.so

[rmcooke]

I have followed the steps above on Intrepid 64 Bit and the installation of the Adobe AIR installer appears successful.

However, I get the following messages when launching the Installer:

richard@ubuntu:~$ "Adobe AIR Application Installer"
/usr/lib/gio/modules/libgiogconf.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgiogconf.so
/usr/lib/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so
/usr/lib/gio/modules/libgioremote-volume-monitor.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgioremote-volume-monitor.so

The installer application appears regardless and I try to install TweetDeck which installs and runs after a fashion.

All buttons in TweetDeck are then unresponsive and the application does nothing.

Has anyone solved this problem?

Thanks,



Richard

[mouseclone]

When trying install Air apps on Ubuntu 8.04 64bit clean install I get

Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/filesystems/libgio.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
Segmentation fault

I'm not sure where I need to go from here to get the Air installer working so that Air apps will work. I'm tired of fighting it for tonight.

[linuxed]

The instructions above were originally written for the beta version of Adobe Air for Linux. They have since been rewritten for v1.5.1. You may want to try the v1.5.1 installer from the link below.

http://get.adobe.com/air/

Make sure to remove old versions of adobe air before installing v1.5. You should be able to click on "Adobe AIR Uninstaller" from your Applications > Utilities menu.

[mouseclone]

Still no good for me. I did what you said about removing the version I had installed. Removed the folder and did a reinstall. When I go to run an install app for Air I get a box and pops up and drops rather quickly. I'm sure if I run from CLI that I will get the same thing as before.

[linuxed]

Just ran a few tests and apparently even v1.5.1 requires a few extra 32-bit libraries to be installed. I just updated one of the steps in the instructions above. Try following steps 3 - 16 again and see if that helps. Then check if the required libraries are installed.

ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/airappinstaller
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/"Adobe AIR Updater"
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/airappinstaller
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/appentry

If it's still not working then there has to be another 32-bit library you're missing. Try running and installing the .air apps from the command line which should give you an error message stating which library is causing the problem.

[linuxed]

@rmcooke
Try downloading this package and extracting all the .so files to your /usr/lib32 folder and see if that makes any difference.

@mouseclone
Make sure you have the ia32-libs package installed.

Edit: One other thought, it occurred to me that some users may be trying to install Air on an earlier version of Ubuntu. In those cases there may be some libraries missing from the ia32-libs package you install (i.e. libsmime3.so). To ensure that all required 32-bit libraries are installed make sure that you do not install an ia32-libs package older than 2.2 (intrepid) or preferably 2.7 (jaunty). You may want to download it manually from one of the links below instead of using apt-get.

http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/poo...tu18_amd64.deb

http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/poo...ntu4_amd64.deb

[binbash]

Just ran a few tests and apparently even v1.5.1 requires a few extra 32-bit libraries to be installed. I just updated one of the steps in the instructions above. Try following steps 3 - 16 again and see if that helps. Then check if the required libraries are installed.

ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/airappinstaller
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/"Adobe AIR Updater"
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/airappinstaller
ldd /opt/"Adobe AIR"/Versions/1.0/Resources/appentry

If it's still not working then there has to be another 32-bit library you're missing. Try running and installing the .air apps from the command line which should give you an error message stating which library is causing the problem.

Thanks for the update

[linuxed]

Update
The guide has now been completely rewritten for Ubuntu 8.10. To this point I haven't experienced a single error or missing library file after following the steps posted above. I've also created an ia32-air-libs package to help simplify the installation. It contains all of the necessary 32-bit library files to run AIR that are not found in the ia32-libs package. You can find the new package attached to the first post in this thread.

Important
If you are trying to install AIR on a version of Ubuntu earlier than 8.10 then you'll need to manually install the ia32-libs package. The package you install MUST be >= 2.2ubuntu18.

Moderators
If a moderator happens to notice this post please update the title of this thread to display 8.10 instead of 8.04. Thanks in advance.