How to I make Cisco WebEx work with 13.10 64bit?

I'm having a very hard time getting webex to work under Saucy. Up until now I've been able to just install a java plugin, install ia32-libs, and I was good to go. With Saucy ia32-libs is gone and it's up to us to figure out which 32-bit libraries we need to install.

So the question is, how do I install WebEx on 64bit Saucy without ia32-libs?

Solution 1:

From this post, here is a step-by-step method that might work:

1. Install JDK.
2. Configure Java plugin for browser (no need for a 32-bit JDK or Firefox).
3. Start a WebEx to create .so files inside $HOME/.webex/????/.
4. Check for unresolved .so dependencies:

   ldd $HOME/.webex/????/*.so > $HOME/check.txt
   

5. Search for missing libraries:

   grep "not found" $HOME/check.txt | sort | uniq

6. Review the libraries; for example:

   libasound.so.2 => not found
   libjawt.so => not found
   libXmu.so.6 => not found
   libXtst.so.6 => not found
   libXv.so.1 => not found
   

7. Find the corresponding packages:

   sudo apt-get install apt-file
   sudo apt-file update
   

8. Locate that package that contains the missing libraries:

   apt-file search libXmu.so.6
   apt-file search libjawt.so
   

9. Install the missing libraries, for example:

   sudo apt-get install -y libxmu6:i386
   sudo apt-get install -y libasound2:i386
   sudo apt-get install -y libxv1:i386
   sudo apt-get install -y libxtst6:i386
   sudo apt-get install -y libgcj12-awt:i386
   

Solution 2:

Here are the complete instructions for my future self and those interested. The solution is to install firefox 32 bits with Oracle Java 32 bits.

First get firefox 32 bits:

wget http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-27.0.1.tar.bz2
bunzip2 firefox-27.0.1.tar.bz2
tar -xvf firefox-27.0.1.tar

Then get Oracle java 32 bits (replace download with latest version):

wget --no-cookies --header "Cookie: gpw_e24=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oracle.com" "http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/7u51-b13/jre-7u51-linux-i586.tar.gz"
tar -xzvf jre-7u51-linux-i586.tar.gz
mkdir /usr/local/java
sudo mv jre1.7.0_51 /usr/local/java

Create and activate the alternative for the java plugin into firefox:

sudo update-alternatives --install "/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so" "mozilla-javaplugin.so" "/usr/local/java/jre1.7.0_51/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so" 1
sudo update-alternatives --set "mozilla-javaplugin.so" "/usr/local/java/jre1.7.0_51/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so" 

Shut down all instances of Firefox if already running, and start 32 bits firefox:

cd ~/firefox
./firefox

To check the version of java, type about:plugins in the address bar. It should display:

Java(TM) Plug-in 10.51.2
File: libnpjp2.so
Path: /usr/local/java/jre1.7.0_51/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
Version: 10.51.2
State: Enabled
Next Generation Java Plug-in 10.51.2 for Mozilla browsers

Note that when you are done with Webex, you can change back your version of the java plugin to the 64 bit version (if it was installed) by typing:

sudo update-alternatives --config "mozilla-javaplugin.so"

And selecting the correct entry.

Additionally, it is necessary to install missing webex libraries as described in Russ Lowenthal's answer:

cd ~/.webex
ldd *.so | grep "not found"
#get the package containing the missing libraries (example libXtst.so.6):
dpkg -S libXtst.so.6
#install the corresponding package (appending i386 for the 32bits version)
sudo apt-get install libxtst6:i386

Tested also on a fresh install of Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, it works. Let me know if you have problems.

Solution 3:

ldd was not working for me and would return "not a dynamic executable" for the *.so files

~/.webex/1424$ ldd *.so
atascli.so:
    not a dynamic executable
atgzip.so:
    not a dynamic executable
atjpeg.so:
    not a dynamic executable
atpng.so:
    not a dynamic executable

I had to install these 3 packages to get it to run (replacements for ia32-libs)

lib32z1 
lib32ncurses5 
lib32bz2-1.0

After that this command helped me find the packages I needed (can take a while)

$ for x in `ldd *.so | grep "not found" | sort -u | awk '{print $1}'` ; do apt-file search $x >> packages.txt ; done