Install Adobe AIR on Fedora (16 / 17 / 18 / 19)

Update (3 July 2013)
The instructions to install Adobe AIR has been tested on Fedora 16, Fedora 17, Fedora 18 and Fedora 19. However, the testing of AIR applications under Fedora 19 is less than satisfactory. Please see section under Install AIR Applications. This will be the last update on running AIR on Fedora.

Special Note
Please be aware that Adobe no longer supports Adobe Air for Linux. You can get further explanation from Adobe from this post. Adobe will not provide any updates including security updates for Adobe Air. 

You could still install the latest version of Adobe Air for Linux (which is version 2.6) from the archive provided that the air applications you are running still supports Adobe Air version 2.6.

Caution (Important !)
For security concerns I do not recommend installing Adobe AIR version 2.6 unless you really need to run the AIR apps in Linux. For TweetDeck users, you can install the Chrome version of TweetDeck instead of desktop version. 

If you still need Adobe Air and its apps, you can follow the instructions below. I've installed Adobe Air for Linux (v2.6) and tested some air applications with it. It works fine for now. Please note that you'll be installing at your own risk.

Getting Adobe Air for Linux  (v. 2.6)
To get the last version of Adobe Air, visit the Adobe Archive page. Scroll down to "Adobe Air 2.6 runtime downloads" and download the bin file labelled "Adobe Air 2.6.0 Linux (15.4MB)". You will be downloading a file named "AdobeAIRInstaller.bin"

Pre-Installation Setup
Before you runs the bin file, you need to install all the essential libraries (both 32-bit and 64-bit) required. Use the following command:
sudo yum install -y ld-linux.so.2 gtk2-devel.i686 libdbus-glib-1.so.2 libhal.so.1  
sudo yum install -y rpm-devel.i686 libXt.so.6 gnome-keyring-devel.i686
sudo yum install -y libDCOP.so.4 libxml2-devel.i686 nss-devel.i686 libxslt.i686 
sudo yum install -y xterm rpm-build libgnome-keyring.i686
sudo yum install -y gtk2-engines gtk2-engines.i686 libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gtk2.i686 libcanberra-gtk3.i686

Install Adobe Air
To install the Adobe Air, navigate to where you kept the file "AdoebAIRInstaller.bin" and use the command:
chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin 
sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

The installation program will produce the following installation dialog box:



Click I Agree.



The installation proceeds...



The final box show the completion of installation.

Error Handling
If you did not encounter the installation dialog box as shown above, the most likely cause is the incomplete set-up during pre-installation. You must install all the packages list under pre-installation setup. 


Automation

I've created an automated script here. You can download this script and run the script using the following command:
chmod +x FC00-adobe-AIR-install-x86_64
sudo ./FC00-adobe-AIR-install-x86_64

The complete automated script is listed below:
#! /bin/bash

# IMPORTANT: READ THIS FIRST
# You need to download Adobe repository program and place it in the folder with this script.
# This scripts installs and configure Adobe AIR for 64-bit Fedora 
# You need root access to run this script

# Warning
echo "Adobe has stop supporting Adobe Air on Linux"
echo "The software you are about to installis legacy software"
echo "Please note that there will be no security patches"
echo "Install at your own RISK!"
read -p "Are you sure you want to continue? (Y/y) " 
if ! [ $REPLY == Y -o $REPLY == y ]
then
 exit 1
 echo "Exit!"
fi

# Getting Adobe Air ver 2.6
wget http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/2.6/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

# Installing Libraries for Adobe AIR for 64-bit Fedora
echo "Installing Libraries before installation of Adobe AIR..." 
yum install -y ld-linux.so.2 gtk2-devel.i686 libdbus-glib-1.so.2 libhal.so.1 rpm-devel.i686 libXt.so.6 gnome-keyring-devel.i686 libDCOP.so.4 libxml2-devel.i686 nss-devel.i686 libxslt.i686 xterm rpm-build libgnome-keyring.i686 gtk2-engines gtk2-engines.i686 libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gtk2.i686 libcanberra-gtk3.i686

# Setup log file
touch ~/.airinstall.log

# Installing Adobe AIR
echo "Installing Adobe AIR"
./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

#Installation Complete
echo "Installation Completed!"
echo "Cleaning up"
rm -f AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
echo "End of program!"



Install AIR Applications
Please note that you no longer able to install the AIR apps directly from the browser. You need to find and download the air application file and run from your system. I've successfully installed Zinio Reader 4 and twhirl.

Update for Fedora 19 (3 July 2013)
Although I've installed Adobe AIR successfully, the testing of AIR applications is less than satisfactory on Fedora 19. The main problem is after installation of an app, it fails to register under Applications. To launch the program, you need to navigate to /opt folder and look for the application folder. Under the application folder and bin subfolder, you can double click to launch the app from there. In my testing with Zinio Reader, I need to navigate to /opt/Zinio\ Reader\ 4/bin and launch the bin file from there. This problem exist in various desktop environment I've tested such as Cinnamon Dekstop and Mate Desktop. The program works fine if you could launch the app from the bin folder. There is also problem downloading twhirl, however, I manage to download another copy from Cnet. 

Install Zinio Reader 4
Zinio Reader 4 is an AIR application that allows subscriber of digital magazine to download and view digital magazine. As I've mentioned earlier, you need to find the AIR application here and download it into your folder.

Double click the AIR apps from your download folder and follow the screenshots.
 

Click "Install"


Click "Continue"


Enter root password and press enter. (Please note that the cursor will not move while typing password but the application is working) If the installation screen disappears, the installation is probably successful. Go to Activities >> Applications and look for the application.

Install Twhirl
I do not use twhirl, but I install it for testing purpose. Go to the download page and download the AIR application. Launch the application from your download folder.


Click "Install"


 Click "Continue"


Click "I Agree"

Enter root password and press enter. If the installation screen disappears, the installation is probably successful. Go to Activities >> Applications and look for the application.

Troubleshooting AIR Installation

My Test Environment
Listed below is my test environment for comparison purpose:
  • I've install Fedora 17 on a Core 2 Duo system with 4GB of RAM and 128MB of VRAM on a nVidia Card. 
  • I've install Fedora using standard Fedora Desktop Edition (Gnome).

Pre-Installation Setup
Pre-installation setup is very important. Please ensure that all the necessary libraries are installed. The command is very long so make sure you copied every command listed above. You also need to install Adobe Flash Player first.

Troubleshooting AIR Installation
If you encounter any problem while installing AIR, remove the installation using the command rpm -e to remove the AIR installation.
# Command to query rpm file for Adobe AIR
rpm -qa | grep adobeair 

# Command to remove Adobe AIR
rpm -e adobeair*

Use the following command to create a log file for re-installation:
touch ~/.airinstall.log

Review the log file if re-installation fail again.

If you encounter error such as "cannot load Gtk module". Please refer to my post Cannot Load GTK Module

Troubleshooting AIR Apps Installation
If you encounter any problem while installing AIR apps, remove the apps using the command rpm -e to remove the AIR application as shown above.

Use the following command to create a log file for re-installation:
touch ~/.airappinstall.log

Please compare the screenshots from my successful installation.


Getting Help
If you still encounter any problem, you can get help from the following forums as their response is faster:

*** End ***


Comments

  1. Hello, thanks for this "how to", but here's my pb at the installation of adobe air (sorry french language):

    (setup:3240): Gtk-WARNING **: Impossible de trouver le moteur de thème dans module_path : « clearlooks »
    Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "pk-gtk-module"
    Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my experience, Gtk error will not affect the operation of adobe air. You can install apps with the error.

      However, you can still remove such errors using the following command:

      Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “clearlooks”,
      $sudo yum install gtk2-engines gtk2-engines.i686


      Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module “pk-gtk-module”
      $sudo yum install PackageKit-gtk-module PackageKit-gtk-module.i686


      Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”
      $sudo yum install libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gtk2.i686 libcanberra-gtk3.i686

      Delete
  2. Thanks for writing this, it worked perfectly on Fedora 19 x64.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,

    have You maybe tried to install Adobe Air on Fedora 20 x64?
    I can not install some of libs required (yum can not find them), and AA does not install... Any ideas/solutions?

    Fedora 20, 64bit, with MATE

    Best regards

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. same problem here, yum can't find libhal.so.1 and gnome-keyring-devel.i686

      Delete
    2. I encountered the same problem, yum could not find libhal.so.1 and gnome-keyring-devel.i686. Unfortunately, I don't have immediate solution. I guess this is it.

      For tweetdeck user, you can use the chrome extension instead of installing the AIR app.

      For other Linux user that need AIR app, either you fall back on Fedora 19 or install Windows onto a virtual machine.

      Maybe installing AIR (windows version) onto wine may work. I've never worked on wine before. Anyone with experience in using wine can comment below.



      Delete
  4. I have had the same problem installing on Fedora 20 x64. AsI need to latest bluetooth/ bluez-5.14 and adobe Air, I need this to run on Fedora 20.

    I did the following steps:
    1. Install Fedora 19
    2. Update using yum: sudo yum update
    3. Follow the steps so nicely outline in this post. I ignored the libhal and keyring-devel. I think these have been remove (moved) but find it has not really affected the install as far a I can tell. No time to do a deep dig.
    4. I following the process to upgraded my Fedora version using Fedup
    https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedUp

    Adobe Air remained installed and so far seems to run the Air application I needed.
    Of course more testing needs to be done

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think this is one way (or only way) to do it. Install Fedora 19 and then install Adobe Air. Finally do an upgrade to Fedora 20 using Fedup.

      Thanks for the tips

      Delete
  5. Some applications like the Elance tracker unfortunately fail to work in wine with adobe air.

    ReplyDelete

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