Firefox plugins
From Mandrivausers Wiki
By default in Mandriva, Firefox is installed from the rpms into a directory like "/usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.10" (for example). This directory has a "plugins" directory where plugins (like flash or java) can be installed. However, when the system is upgraded by a minor patch, Firefox then installs to a different directory (for example, "/usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.11") and then the plugins can no longer be found.
One solution to this is to install the plugins in each user's home directory, under the directory "~/.mozilla/plugins" - this directory will have to be created if it doesn't already exist. This will allow the plugins to still be found after a minor Firefox upgrade, however each user is then responsible for finding and installing the plugins themselves. Newly-created users will then have no plugins available to them.
Probably the best solution to this is to create a directory "/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins" (if it doesn't already exist) and put the plugins in there instead. Firefox will then be able to still find the plugins after a minor Firefox upgrade, and the plugins will be available system-wide, to all users.
[edit] Java plugin
Firstly a suitable Java runtime (JRE) or development kit (JDK) must be installed in the system. These can be obtained from http://java.sun.com or http://blackdown.org. Either version 1.4.2 or 1.5 will do. Then the plugin file needs to be located, for example in ...jdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so and a symlink needs to be made to this file in the directory /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins.
[edit] Flash plugin
The flash plugin can be downloaded as an rpm from http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer and when this is installed, it copies the plugin files into your current firefox plugins directory, for example "/usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.10/plugins". In order to make this still work even after a firefox upgrade, the 2 files "flashplayer.xpt" and "libflashplayer.so" should be moved or copied into the "/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins" directory.
