Install Flock in Linux Mint

First, get the latest version from get deb (very handy website if you’re ever looking for some debian applications) and install it using the gdebi package installer. You could of course do this in a terminal using

sudo dpkg -i flock-filename.deb.

Once installed, I started it straight up. Unlike some debs I’ve found in the past it actually added a menu entry properly so no messing around with there.

Now we’re in and you can start fooling around… but woh there. Something’s missing. Yes, it’s all you firefox plugins. I don’t often need flash or many of the others when I’m in linux. If I’ve booted into a ‘nix it tends to mean I’m working.. or designing. But sometimes, you just want to watch something.

Rather than spending time copying files, I think it’s far quicker to use a symbolic link; that is, to make a link in the /usr/share/flock folder, called plugins, which links to firefox’s own folder.

Firstly load up a terminal, probably gnome-terminal, then type the following to change to the flock directory:

cd /usr/share/flock

Now we’re in the right place we need to remove the old plugins folder and probably the nullplugin which resides inside. To do that:

sudo rm -r plugins

Nearly there, just one more command to go then you can leave the scary terminal. This command actually creates the link and tells it where to point to, in this case we want our firefox plugin directory:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/firefox/plugins plugins

And you’re done! Close and reopen flock if you’d left it open in the background and check Tools > Add-ons and click the plugins tab to see the list of available plugins.