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Release notes for users of Adobe AIR

Release date: 6/9/2010

• Getting Started
• System requirements
• Supported languages
• What's new in AIR 2
• Installing Adobe AIR
• Uninstalling Adobe AIR
• Installing AIR applications
• Tips and tricks
• Known issues and limitations
• Thai text input problem into AIR HTML
• AIR Knowledge Base

Getting Started

The Adobe® AIR® runtime powers many popular desktop applications, including video players, enterprise applications, games, and productivity tools. Prior to running these applications, the user must install Adobe AIR.

This document contains system requirements, installation instructions, known issues, and other information about using AIR 2.

System requirements

Note: Windows 2000 and Mac PowerPC are not supported with AIR 2. Users can install and run AIR 1.5 applications, but will not be able to install or update to AIR 2. Mac OS 10.4 running on an Intel processor is supported for running AIR 2 applications, but is not supported as development environment with the AIR 2 SDK.

Additional requirements for Linux distributions:

Supported languages

Adobe AIR 2 installation and runtime user experience supports the following languages:

• Chinese Simplified
• Chinese Traditional
• Czech
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Turkish

What's new in AIR 2

• Windows 2000 and Mac PowerPC are no longer supported - Users with these operating systems can still install and run AIR 1.5 applications, but cannot install or update to AIR 2.
• Native process API
• Mass storage device detection
• Native document handlers to open documents
• Local microphone API
• Support for screen readers (Windows only)
• Enhanced drag-and-drop support
• IME API and IME text input enhancement
• New WebKit with CSS3 capabilities and some HTML5 features support
• Faster JavaScript engine
• Socket servers and peer-to-peer
• TLS/SSL sockets
• UDP networking support
• Multi-touch and gestures
• Performance improvements
• Cross-platform (Mac/Windows) vector printing
• Enhanced printer interaction
• Global error handler
• IPv6 network support
• Runtime installers as .deb & .rpm packages for Linux
• Security improvements
• Increased maximum window size

Installing Adobe AIR

Installing AIR 2 and AIR applications requires you to have administrator privileges on your computer.

Installing AIR 2 on a Windows computer

1. Download the AIR 2 installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air
2. Double-click the AIR 2 installation file and follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Installing AIR 2 on a Mac OS computer

1. Download the AIR 2 installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air .
2. Double-click AIR 2 installation file and follow the prompts to complete the installation.
3. If the installer displays an Authenticate window, enter an administrator user name and password.

Installing AIR 2 on a Linux computer

Using the Binary Installer

1. Download the AIR 2 installation binary file from http://get.adobe.com/air.
2. Double-click AIR 2 installation file AdobeAIRInstaller.bin and follow the prompts to complete the installation.
3. If you are not logged in as an administrator, invoking the installer prompts you to enter the admin password (root password for non-Debian systems and sudo user's password for Debian systems). Also note the following:
• You need to grant execution rights to the bin file
  

  chmod +x [AdobeAIRInstaller].bin

• Adobe AIR is installed as a native package: a rpm on an rpm-based distribution and a deb on a Debian distribution. Currently AIR does not support any other package format, so it may not install on distributions like Slackware.
• Adobe AIR is installed to the following location: /opt/Adobe AIR/Versions/1.0
• AIR registers the mime-type "application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip", which means that .air files are of this mime-type and are therefore registered with the AIR runtime.

Using the package installers

1. Download the AIR 2 package file from http://get.adobe.com/air. Depending on your system, you can choose the rpm or Debian package.
2. Double-click AIR 2 package file to install the package.
3. You can also install using the command line.

If you are on a Debian-based system, use the following command:

sudo dpkg -i <path to the package>/adobeair-2.0.0.xxxxx.deb

If you are on a rpm-based system, use the following command to install AIR the first time:

sudo rpm -i <path to the package>/adobeair-2.0.0-xxxxx.i386.rpm

Or, use the following command to update an existing AIR installation:

sudo rpm -U <path to the package>/adobeair-2.0.0-xxxxx.i386.rpm

Note: Upgrading Adobe AIR using a package installer is only supported when the installed version of AIR is 1.5.3 or above.

Uninstalling Adobe AIR

Once you have installed Adobe AIR, you can uninstall using the following procedures:

Uninstalling Adobe AIR on a Windows computer

1. In the Windows Start menu, select Settings > Control Panel.
2. Select the Add or Remove Programs control panel.
3. Select "Adobe AIR" to uninstall the runtime.
4. Click the Change/Remove button.

Uninstalling Adobe AIR on a Mac computer

1. Double-click the "Adobe AIR Uninstaller", which is located in the /Applications/Utilities folder.

Uninstalling Adobe AIR on a Linux computer

1. Use the system's package manager to remove the adobeair package.

Installing AIR applications

Installing AIR applications for Mac, Windows and Linux

Badge install in web browser
You may install AIR applications via the seamless install feature (badge install), which will install or update the AIR runtime as needed. With the AIR runtime installed, clicking on a link/badge in the web page will start the application installation. You will be prompted for installation location and administrator password if necessary.

Install from local .air files
With the AIR runtime installed, you can double-click the .air file to invoke the application installer. The installer begins with a security dialog describing the publisher identity. You will be prompted for installation location and local user password if necessary.

Additional details for Linux

1. AIR applications are installed as a Linux package (rpm or deb).
2. The package name is a combination of the applicationID and publisherID for the application.

Tips and tricks

AIR Installers Troubleshooting

Please refer to the following tech note for installer troubleshooting:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/403/kb403150.html

Installer logs for AIR 2 application and runtime installation

In AIR 2, installation logs are created by default in a log file. The file is named "Install.log" on Linux and Windows. The file is named "system.log" on Mac OS. This log file is cumulative meaning that a new log is appended at the end of the existing log file whenever an attempt, successful or unsuccessful, is made to install or update the AIR runtime or an AIR application. The size of the log file is limited to 0.5MB and will be truncated when exceeding this size.

The location of this file differs from platform to platform:

*On Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\AIR\logs\Install.log
*On Windows Vista/ Windows 7: C:\Users\<username>Appdata\Local\Adobe\AIR\logs\Install.log
*On Mac OS X: /private/var/log/system.log (console application)
*On Linux: /home/<username>/.appdata/Adobe/AIR/Logs/Install.log

Known issues and limitations

Screen reader support

Screen reader support is currently available only on the Windows operating system. Screen reading software that is compatible with AIR includes the NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and JAWS version 11. Top-level activation and automatic announcement of a screen's contents may not work completely in some cases. For example, when focused on a text field, JAWS 11 may enter "Virtual Cursor" mode and not switch to "Forms" mode when necessary, disallowing typing into the text field. The workaround is to tab out and then tab back into the text field in order to be able to enter text.

Non-ASCII URLs

If a URL string contains non-ASCII characters, it may not work on Windows XP because AIR relies on a Windows code module that may not exist on the system. The workaround is to install Internet Explorer 7, which will install the necessary code module. Windows Vista and later do not exhibit this problem.

Badge installation issue with Linux native package installations

After installing Adobe AIR using a native package installer, a badge installation may not work and you might see the following error: "Sorry, an error has occurred. The application could not be installed. Try installing it again. If the problem persists, contact the application author. Error #1". This issue is fixed with Flash Player 10.1.

The workaround for older versions of Flash Player is to download and save the .air file locally and try installing it using "Adobe AIR Application Installer." After doing so, future badge installations should work as expected.

Thai text input problem into AIR HTML

The cursor can move to the wrong position when typing some Thai characters in HTML content. Text input for languages other than those listed in the supported languages section above is currently not supported.

PDF content does not display without Adobe Reader

To display PDF content in AIR 2, make sure that Adobe Reader 8.2/9.3 or later is installed.

Embedded Flash content display issue

Embedded Flash content in an HTML page or an HTML application will not display if the application is using a transparent window.

Installation issues on Fedora Core with SELinux enabled

Runtime installation using binary installer and badge installation of AIR applications does not work when SELinux is enabled on Fedora Core machines.

Installing AIR2 on 64 bit Linux distributions

Refer the following tech note in there are issues while installing AIR 2 or during background update of AIR 1.5.3 on 64-bit Linux machines: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/521/cpsid_52132.html

AIR Knowledge Base

For additional information on known issues, please visit the Adobe AIR support web site http://www.adobe.com/support/air/.