4 ms·

ruffle-rs/ruffle: A Flash Player emulator written in Rust

81 points by rcarmo 2y ago

teeray 2y ago
It blows my mind to think we can finally run Flash on iOS—all it took was the complete destruction of Flash.
- BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
  > all it took was the complete destruction of flash And then 15 years of waiting.
alchemio 2y ago
Flash apps and Java applets (via Cheerp) can run again in browsers thanks to wasm.
- Alifatisk 2y ago
  If it's a little Java application, you can also port it to Dart, they share a lot of similarities. I did this and it was quite easy, but in my case, it was a little javafx application that drew to the canvas, not many dependencies where used.
- MaxBarraclough 2y ago
  I imagine this would be possible with just JavaScript. It would probably run somewhat slower than WASM, but still, it's possible to transpile Rust to JavaScript. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asm.js#Programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asm.js#Programming_languages
cultofmetatron 2y ago
what makes this an emulator and not just an alternative open source player?
- maxbond 2y ago
  An emulator seeks to be bug-compatible with a specific language implementation, rather than to implement a language in the abstract. The reference implementation is the spec. But it isn't entirely cut and dry, and I see where your point.
  - ChocolateGod 2y ago
    I'm not sure in the case here there's a difference between emulator and open source player.
    - maxbond 2y ago
      Rather than emulating the behavior of Flash Player, you could write an implementation against the ActionScript language reference. https://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html https://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actions... And/or the documentation of AVM2, including it's instruction set. https://archive.org/details/flash-file-format-specification-collection-hackipedia-org-20201122/ActionScript%20Virtual%20Machine%202%20%28AVM2%29%20Overview%20by%20Adobe%20%282007-05%29/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/flash-file-format-specification-... (see page 35) That's what I mean by implementing a language in the abstract. I don't imagine anyone would want to do that, except out of academic interest. It wouldn't be suitable for archival purposes, and those are the only practical purposes I can imagine. But that's the distinction that comes to my mind.
- dusted 2y ago
  well, there's not even a proprietary player anymore.. at least on recent linux, you'll be hard pressed to play .swf files without ruffle.
  - lcouturi 2y ago
    It is true that the proprietary player was discontinued years ago, but it is still usable, even on Linux. I installed it through the AUR package on Arch Linux, but it can also be installed on any distribution through the Flatpak package. From my experience though Ruffle has much better performance, so I use it whenever possible.
dusted 2y ago
I've had a lot of use of the stand-alone ruffle application, I have a bit over a tib of old flash files, and it's a pleasure to be able to dive into this part of online history and relive many of that late 90s whimsy ^_^
- p0w3n3d 2y ago
  Could you share them? Maybe in a form of a museum?
  - dusted 2y ago
    I'm afraid I can't, even though I really want to, it would probably violate some copyrights, if not those of the swf authors, then the authors of various content such as video, audio or graphics used in them :(
    - Minor49er 2y ago
      Just put them up on Archive.org. They already host tons of Flash media and even include Ruffle as a way to play them on the site natively
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Some previous discussion: 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37965947 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37965947 2022: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32011842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32011842 2021: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033561 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033561 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25242115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25242115 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20728019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20728019
p0w3n3d 2y ago
I'm looking for a flash game that was parking on a parking lot. It was super accurate in terms of the turning radius and I've learnt a lot in it to apply in real life. This was 2d game btw. Anyone remembers?
- 0x38B 2y ago
  A few Kagi searches turned up a game called "Parking Perfection", is that it?
  - p0w3n3d 2y ago
    SIR! This IS THE EXACT game I played! Thank you very much! I don't know how you could nail it so exactly... This kagi search engine - I must try it out... I have a feeling that google and duckduck do not find anything anymore, except for products.
mclau156 2y ago
Sinjid: Shadow of the Warrior and Swords and Sandals are both great flash games

81 points by rcarmo 2y ago

teeray 2y ago

It blows my mind to think we can finally run Flash on iOS—all it took was the complete destruction of Flash.

BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
> all it took was the complete destruction of flash And then 15 years of waiting.

alchemio 2y ago

Flash apps and Java applets (via Cheerp) can run again in browsers thanks to wasm.

Alifatisk 2y ago
If it's a little Java application, you can also port it to Dart, they share a lot of similarities. I did this and it was quite easy, but in my case, it was a little javafx application that drew to the canvas, not many dependencies where used.
MaxBarraclough 2y ago
I imagine this would be possible with just JavaScript. It would probably run somewhat slower than WASM, but still, it's possible to transpile Rust to JavaScript. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asm.js#Programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asm.js#Programming_languages

cultofmetatron 2y ago

what makes this an emulator and not just an alternative open source player?

maxbond 2y ago
An emulator seeks to be bug-compatible with a specific language implementation, rather than to implement a language in the abstract. The reference implementation is the spec. But it isn't entirely cut and dry, and I see where your point.
- ChocolateGod 2y ago
  I'm not sure in the case here there's a difference between emulator and open source player.
  - maxbond 2y ago
    Rather than emulating the behavior of Flash Player, you could write an implementation against the ActionScript language reference. https://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html https://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actions... And/or the documentation of AVM2, including it's instruction set. https://archive.org/details/flash-file-format-specification-collection-hackipedia-org-20201122/ActionScript%20Virtual%20Machine%202%20%28AVM2%29%20Overview%20by%20Adobe%20%282007-05%29/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/flash-file-format-specification-... (see page 35) That's what I mean by implementing a language in the abstract. I don't imagine anyone would want to do that, except out of academic interest. It wouldn't be suitable for archival purposes, and those are the only practical purposes I can imagine. But that's the distinction that comes to my mind.
dusted 2y ago
well, there's not even a proprietary player anymore.. at least on recent linux, you'll be hard pressed to play .swf files without ruffle.
- lcouturi 2y ago
  It is true that the proprietary player was discontinued years ago, but it is still usable, even on Linux. I installed it through the AUR package on Arch Linux, but it can also be installed on any distribution through the Flatpak package. From my experience though Ruffle has much better performance, so I use it whenever possible.

dusted 2y ago

I've had a lot of use of the stand-alone ruffle application, I have a bit over a tib of old flash files, and it's a pleasure to be able to dive into this part of online history and relive many of that late 90s whimsy ^_^

p0w3n3d 2y ago
Could you share them? Maybe in a form of a museum?
- dusted 2y ago
  I'm afraid I can't, even though I really want to, it would probably violate some copyrights, if not those of the swf authors, then the authors of various content such as video, audio or graphics used in them :(
  - Minor49er 2y ago
    Just put them up on Archive.org. They already host tons of Flash media and even include Ruffle as a way to play them on the site natively

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Some previous discussion: 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37965947 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37965947 2022: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32011842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32011842 2021: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033561 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033561 2020: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25242115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25242115 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20728019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20728019

p0w3n3d 2y ago

I'm looking for a flash game that was parking on a parking lot. It was super accurate in terms of the turning radius and I've learnt a lot in it to apply in real life. This was 2d game btw. Anyone remembers?

0x38B 2y ago
A few Kagi searches turned up a game called "Parking Perfection", is that it?
- p0w3n3d 2y ago
  SIR! This IS THE EXACT game I played! Thank you very much! I don't know how you could nail it so exactly... This kagi search engine - I must try it out... I have a feeling that google and duckduck do not find anything anymore, except for products.

mclau156 2y ago

Sinjid: Shadow of the Warrior and Swords and Sandals are both great flash games