Ubuntu – Missing Thumbnails for .swf files in Nautilus

10.10nautilusswfthumbnails

Before I upgraded to Maverick, .swf files used to have a thumbnail in Nautilus.
However, Nautilus doesn't generate thumbnails for them anymore, even after removing ~/.thumbnails/, which most likely indicates that a package is missing.

How do I get Nautilus to generate thumbnails for .swf files?

EDIT: I've added a bounty, as I believe this question might still be answered…

Best Answer

There is a way of getting this done explained in the Floorplanner Tech Blog. To compile dump-gnash on a fresh Maverick you'll need

sudo apt-get install gcc libboost-dev libboost-thread-dev libagg-dev libsdl1.2-dev libcairo-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libatk1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev libpango1.0-dev libgtk2.0-dev libgtkglext1-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libgif-dev libjpeg-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev libspeex-dev libcurl-dev

And then you just follow the steps. This will take a long time.
NOTE: For Step 7 use the following script instead:

if [[ $3 ]]; then
    raw="$(mktemp)"
    dump-gnash $2 -P "FlashVars=url=file://$1" -D "$raw" --max-advances 1 -j 500 -k 500
    tail -c 1MB "$raw" | convert -size 500x500 -depth 8 rgba:- -separate -swap 0,2 -combine -trim png:"$3"
    trap "rm $raw" EXIT
else
    echo "Insufficient arguments (expected 3 arguments)"
    exit 1
fi

Once you have the final script running you just hook it into gconf-editor

gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@swf" -t string "/usr/bin/swfthumbnailer.sh %s %i %o"
gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@swf/enable" -t boolean 'true'
gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@x-swf" -t string "/usr/bin/swfthumbnailer.sh %s %i %o"
gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@x-swf/enable" -t boolean 'true'
gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@x-shockwave-flash/command" -t string "/usr/bin/swfthumbnailer.sh %s %i %o"
gconftool-2 -s "/desktop/gnome/thumbnailers/application@x-shockwave-flash/enable" -t boolean 'true'

Then restart (or restart gnome-settings-daemon), and you've got swf thumbs!

P.S.: This is a huge hack. A better way to do this would be vastly appreciated.