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Alpha Release Notes

Updated: March 31, 2008

Welcome to the Adobe® Flex Builder™ Linux alpha! These release notes document known issues related to the alpha version of Adobe® Flex™ Builder™ Linux.

Overview

Flex Builder Linux is a plugin-only version of the Flex Builder that you can use to build Flex applications on Linux.

Flex Builder Linux alpha supports most Flex Builder 3 features, including project creation, code coloring, code hints, compilation, the Ajax Bridge, Find All References, and debugging. Not all features are supported, however, and there is a list of unsupported Flex Builder features later in this page.

Running Eclipse with the Flex Builder Linux plug-in

The installer creates a script called Adobe_Flex_builder.sh in the install directory. You can use this script to launch Eclipse, preconfigured with the following:

  • Path — The script sets the path for the standalone Flash Player. If you choose not to generate HTML wrappers when running your Flex applications, Flex Builder runs them in the standalone player and it locates the standalone player through the PATH environment variable.
  • Environment variable — The script sets the environment variable MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH to the directory containing the debug player plugin. This is required in case you have already installed a release (that is, non-debug) version of the Flash Player plugin.
  • JVM argument — The script launches Eclipse with the JVM argument "-Xmx 512M" which increases the JVM heap max size to 512MB.
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System Requirements

Linux has various distributions and flavors. This release of Flex Builder Linux requires Sun JRE 1.5.x (or newer) and Eclipse 3.3.x and supports the following distributions:

  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x86 32-bit version)
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux WS 4 (x86 32-bit version)
  • Ubuntu 7.0.4 (Feisty) (x86 32-bit version)
  • Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) (x86 32-bit version)
  • Fedora Core 8 (x86 32-bit version)

Flex Builder Linux alpha is also known to run on the following platforms but comprehensive testing has not been done for these platforms

  • openSuSE 10.2 (x86 64-bit version)
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux WS 4 (x86 64-bit version)
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux AS 5 (x86 64-bit version)

To install and use Flex Builder Linux on 64-bit platforms refer to the section 'Installing Flex Builder Linux on 64-bit Operating Systems' below.

Flex Builder Linux alpha only supports Firefox (all versions).

Flex Builder Linux requires the debug version of Flash Player (Linux) to support debugging applications from within Flex Builder Linux alpha.

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What's New in This Release

The additions to the Flex Builder Linux alpha are as follows:

New Features in Alpha 3

  • The Flex Builder Linux Alpha 3 supports building and debugging Adobe® AIR™ applications using the alpha version of Adobe AIR for Linux.
  • Bug Fixes

New Features in Alpha 2

  • JSEclipse plugin installation
  • Datavisualization Trial
  • Automated Testing Trial
  • Flash Player 9 Update 3 (9.0.115.0)
  • Installer with better messages to help installation on a 64-bit machine
  • Bug fixes
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Unsupported Flex Builder Features

This section lists unsupported Flex Builder features in Flex Builder Linux:

  • Design view
  • States view
  • Refactoring
  • Data Wizards
  • Cold Fusion - Data Services Wizard
  • Web Services introspection
  • Profiler
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Installation and Uninstallation

Note: This release supports the plug-in version only. It assumes that the following is already installed on your Linux system:

  • Eclipse 3.3.x (32-bit)
  • Sun JRE 1.5.x or newer (32-bit)
  • Firefox 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 (32-bit)

Installing Flex Builder Linux

To install Flex Builder Linux:

Note: Flex Builder Linux is only supported on Eclipse 3.3.x

  1. Prior to installing, remove any previous versions of Flex Builder Linux. Refer to the section 'Uninstalling Flex Builder Linux' below for instructions.
  2. Download the Flex Builder Linux installer from Adobe Labs.
  3. Run the installer either marking it as executable (chmod +x) or by using a shell to execute it (sh FlexBuilder_Linux_Plugin.bin).
  4. Accept the license agreement and follow the prompts.
  5. When prompted, specify whether to install Flash Player 9 (note that this is an updated version of Flash Player 9 and that Flex Builder Linux will work with earlier versions of Flash Player 9 for Linux). This is the debug version of Flash Player 9, which is required for debugging support and exception display.
  6. (Optional) You can select to install JSEclipse - JavaScript plug-in
  7. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  8. Review the Release Notes.
  9. Start Eclipse.
    Note: You must create a new workspace before beginning. Select File > Switch Workspace from the menu bar and enter a new folder name. If the folder doesn't exist, Eclipse creates it.

Installing Flex Builder Linux on 64-bit Operating Systems:

Though the Flex Builder Linux is a 32-bit application and currently supported only on 32-bit Linux operating systems users may want to use it on 64-bit Linux machines. In order to install and use Flex Builder Linux on a 64-bit Operating systems users may need to perform a few extra steps.

  1. Download and install the 32-bit version of Eclipse 3.3.x (e.g. at $HOME/32bit/eclipse ).
  2. Download and install the 32-bit version of Sun JRE 1.5.x or newer(e.g. at /usr/lib32/jvm32/jre-1.5.0)
  3. Download and install the 32-bit version of Firefox (e.g. at /usr/lib32/firefox)
  4. Set the environment variable PATH such that the 32-bit versions of Java and Firefox (installed in step 2 & 3 above) are run by default (e.g. export PATH=/usr/lib32/jvm/jre-1.5.0/bin:/usr/lib32/firefox:$PATH). You can verify that you are picking up the correct JVM by running the command java -version after setting the PATH environment variable to ensure the 32-bit JVM is being picked up.
  5. In the configuration file eclipse.ini add the line -vm <path_to_the_32bit_JVM> so that the 32-bit JVM is definitely picked up when Eclipse is launched. (e.g. in a new line in the file $HOME/32bit/eclipse/eclipse.ini put -vm /usr/lib/jvm32/jre-1.5.0/bin/java)
  6. When the installer is launched on a 64-bit OS the installer detects that the OS is 64-bit and provides instructions to download and install 32-bit versions of Eclipse, JRE & Firefox
  7. If the installer is launched using a 64-bit Sun JRE the installer prompts the user to re-launch the installer with a 32-bit JRE instead.
  8. If the installer detects that the eclipse installation in the path provided is 64-bit it prompts the user to choose a 32-bit version of Eclipse and exits installation.
  9. The Flash Player debug version is not installed by the Flex Builder Linux installer on a 64-bit OS. The user needs to follow the instructions provided by the installer to manually install the Flash Player debug version.

Setting Firefox to be the default browser for Eclipse

When launching a flex application from Flex Builder Linux you need to ensure that the correct browser is used to run the generate SWF file. In order to set Firefox as the default browser you can do the following :-

  1. In Eclipse open Window -> Preferences
  2. In the Preferences window open General ->Web Browser
  3. If Firefox is not listed as an option select the radio button for "Use internal Web browser", then click on "New" and add the path to the Firefox browser (32-bit Firefox for 64-bit environment)
  4. If Firefox is already listed click on "Edit" to verify that the path points to valid 32-bit firefox installation
  5. Ensure the tick mark is against the Firefox browser (32-bit Firefox in 64-bit environment)
  6. Finally click the button "Okay" or "Apply" to commit this configuration.

Uninstalling Flex Builder Linux

The Flex Builder Linux installer does not simply extract files to the installation directory (default installation directory is Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux). It also registers this plugin with the specified Eclipse installation to enable the Flex Builder plugin in Eclipse. As a result, users should not simply remove the installation directory in order to uninstall Flex Builder Linux.

To uninstall Flex Builder Linux you need to run the script Uninstall_Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux. This will be located in the directory Uninstall Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux which in turn exists in the Flex Builder Linux installation directory.

By default the script will be located in $HOME/Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux/Uninstall Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux/Uninstall_Adobe_Flex_Builder_Linux.

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Known Issues

This section describes the known issues for Flex Builder Linux alpha.

  • FBE-140: Organize Imports removes necessary imports
  • The default version of Java installed in Ubuntu systems is GCJ. This is not supported by the Flex Builder Linux installer and the installation may fail on Ubuntu Systems. Please ensure you have an installed Sun JRE before installing Flex Builder Linux.
  • On Fedora Core 8 users may encounter the Sun JRE bug. To workaround this issue use either of the following commands based on the version of Sun JRE installed (Note that users needs to specify the path of libmawt.so in the machine on which the installation is being done)
    • For sun-java5-bin: sed -i 's/XINERAMA/FAKEEXTN/g' /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.11/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so
    • For sun-java6-bin: sed -i 's/XINERAMA/FAKEEXTN/g' /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so
  • The default version of JRE installed on Fedora Core 8 is IcedTea JRE 1.7, it is not supported for Flex Builder Linux installation. Please download SUN JRE 1.5 or 1.6, apply the fix above and proceed with the installation. Otherwise, you might see a hang in the installation if you are using a default JRE.
  • FBE-289: SourceTree.swf is generated fine in the directory but not rendered in the source view of an AIR application
  • Getting a transparent window for AIR App depends on your Linux distro capabilities. You may need to turn-on some settings (ex: Desktop effects on Ubuntu 7.10) or install some special packages (example: compiz-fusion, beryl for installing compositing manager) to get this working (if its not working by default).

Please refer to Flex Builder 3 Release Notes for known issues that are common to the Linux, Windows and Mac versions of Flex Builder.

Please refer to the Adobe AIR for Linux documentation for additional details regarding the Adobe AIR functionality.

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Documentation

You can reference the Flex Builder 3 documentation to help you with an overall understanding of the features included with the Flex Builder Linux alpha release. Please remember that not all features in Flex Builder 3 are included in the Flex Builder Linux product. The most up-to-date documentation is available from the online Help system.

The following additional resources will help you learn and understand Flex Builder:

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