REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

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php-BB-Is-Awesome
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REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by php-BB-Is-Awesome »

The last release of Adobe Flash Player was released on September 10, 2013, 7 years ago. For those 7 years, Adobe only pushed out security updates and minor bug fixes. Adobe themselves discontinued all support, including security updates, on December 31, 2020. In a move to further reduce the number of Flash Player installations, Adobe added a "time bomb" to Flash to disable existing installations after January 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Player

My proposal is the phpBB begin the transition of phasing out flash player support. At the moment, the editor currently has a button to embed flash player. I propose this button be either removed or an option be given to disable it.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by GanstaZ »

Current state about flash on phpBB github
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by Ancient Viking »

php-BB-Is-Awesome wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:59 am The last release of Adobe Flash Player was released on September 10, 2013, 7 years ago. For those 7 years, Adobe only pushed out security updates and minor bug fixes. Adobe themselves discontinued all support, including security updates, on December 31, 2020. In a move to further reduce the number of Flash Player installations, Adobe added a "time bomb" to Flash to disable existing installations after January 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Player

My proposal is the phpBB begin the transition of phasing out flash player support. At the moment, the editor currently has a button to embed flash player. I propose this button be either removed or an option be given to disable it.
Agreed. I see no reason to keep support for something that's the EOL status.

IIRC, any Flash option is disabled by default in ACP.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by thecoalman »

php-BB-Is-Awesome wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:59 am I propose this button be either removed or an option be given to disable it.
I'm not criticizing your suggestion but being able to use flash in a post or PM is permission based. I'm pretty sure the default permissions are set to no for everyone on a new install going back to 2007.

ACP >> post settings

Set Allow use of [FLASH] BBCode tag in posts: to no.

AFAIK even if this were set to yes no permission sets have this set to yes by default so it would effectively still be disabled if you have not specifically enabled it that groups user/forum permissions. [flash] and the [img] bbcodes are different in that they have permissions and can be enabled or disabled for different groups.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by php-BB-Is-Awesome »

thecoalman wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:51 am
php-BB-Is-Awesome wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:59 am I propose this button be either removed or an option be given to disable it.
I'm not criticizing your suggestion but being able to use flash in a post or PM is permission based. I'm pretty sure the default permissions are set to no for everyone on a new install going back to 2007.

ACP >> post settings

Set Allow use of [FLASH] BBCode tag in posts: to no.

AFAIK even if this were set to yes no permission sets have this set to yes by default so it would effectively still be disabled if you have not specifically enabled it that groups user/forum permissions. [flash] and the [img] bbcodes are different in that they have permissions and can be enabled or disabled for different groups.
Would removing this feature and permission settings also simplify and better optimize the code? I would presume that would be one less query to run too. I would also assume that it would be better to maintain future releases, not incorporating this dated legacy code from an area long past.

Unless there is a specific reason to keep it within phpBB that I am unaware of?
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by 3Di »

Flash attachments have been already removed some time ago,
the rest of the code is already planned to be removed soon, see https://github.com/phpbb/phpbb/pull/6056
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by php-BB-Is-Awesome »

3Di wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:09 pm Flash attachments have been already removed some time ago,
the rest of the code is already planned to be removed soon, see https://github.com/phpbb/phpbb/pull/6056
I see it was added to the tracker in August 2020 of last year https://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-16574

I presume more waiting is required. Patience is a virtue, or so I have been told. I am sure there are other more important matters. At least there is progress, and I look forward to the future. 8-)
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by ErikMouse »

Um, before we begin discussing gutting a phpBB version to remove code over an EOL issue, you may want to take a look at Ruffle replacing it.

WTF is Ruffle you say? Ruffle is a Flash Player emulator written in Rust. Ruffle runs natively on all modern operating systems as a standalone application, and on all modern browsers through the use of WebAssembly. Leveraging the safety of the modern browser sandbox and the memory safety guarantees of Rust, we can confidently avoid all the security pitfalls that Flash had a reputation for. Ruffle puts Flash back on the web, where it belongs - including iOS and Android!

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Last edited by thecoalman on Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessarily large quote. When quoting please only quote relevant text. Thanks.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by php-BB-Is-Awesome »

While I am sure you are a fan of the limited open-source alternative, it is not widely used, adopted, or available.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install ruffle
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package ruffle
Ubuntu Linux is arguably the most widely home use distro at the moment. Your claim that it is widely adopted by all mainstream OSs (operating systems) does not seem to be true.

The development claims to have the support of old flash sites such as Newgrounds, for example. Visting Newgrounds seems to suggest they are no longer using flash themselves. They also claim to have the New York Time's backing, but the New York Times does not have any flash content.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by Heo32 »

Flash is dead. Get rid of it.
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Re: REMOVE flash player support (or add the option to disable it)

Post by 3Di »

Heo32 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:41 am Flash is dead. Get rid of it.
3Di wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:09 pm Flash attachments have been already removed some time ago,
the rest of the code is already planned to be removed soon, see https://github.com/phpbb/phpbb/pull/6056
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