pepperflashplugin-nonfree package installation fails since Chrome 54 is out (October 12th, 2016)

The installation of pepperflashplugin-nonfree for instance using the command

apt-get install --reinstall pepperflashplugin-nonfree

fails with the error message:

mv: cannot evaluate 'unpackchrome/opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so': No file or folder of this type

The package pepperflashplugin-nonfree downloads the Chrome for Linux Debian package (.deb) from Google and extracts the Flash PPAPI plugin (libpepflashplayer.so) to make it available to other browsers system-wide.

The package pepperflashplugin-nonfree is broken since Google changed the method of distribution of the Flash plugin with Chrome 54 for Linux; libpepflashplayer.so is not directly bundled in the Debian package anymore.

A bug report is available on Launchpad.

Since the Flash plugin is often affected by critical vulnerabilities and pepperflashplugin-nonfree currenlty fails to update the plugin, pepperflashplugin-nonfree should not be used anymore and either adobe-flashplugin from Canonical Partner or no Flash plugin at all should be used.

If you use Flash you can check the version of your Flash plugin on this support page on the Adobe website.