Netflix Should Now Play Nicely On Fedora, Other Linux Distributions
Those trying to run Netflix from Chrome/Firefox on different Linux distributions should now see broader compatibility for this popular streaming service without having to alter your HTTP user-agent strings.
Netflix has been working out fine on Ubuntu with modern Chrome/Firefox web-browsers, but up until recently, those using other distributions like Fedora were having less luck as Netflix's HTML5 web player was using some HTTP user-agent string checking that ended up blocking access. But if using user-agent strings that matched Ubuntu (or dropped references to these "unsupported" distributions), everything would work fine on these other Linux spins.
Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, and CentOS has been among the distributions blocked if their names appear in the HTTP user-agent string, but fortunately this bogus/outdated check has been eliminated. GNOME developer Jiri Eischmann has pointed out that those with up-to-date versions of Chrome or Firefox on other non-Ubuntu Linux distributions should now have fine out-of-the-box access to Netflix via its HTML5 video player.
Netflix has been working out fine on Ubuntu with modern Chrome/Firefox web-browsers, but up until recently, those using other distributions like Fedora were having less luck as Netflix's HTML5 web player was using some HTTP user-agent string checking that ended up blocking access. But if using user-agent strings that matched Ubuntu (or dropped references to these "unsupported" distributions), everything would work fine on these other Linux spins.
Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, and CentOS has been among the distributions blocked if their names appear in the HTTP user-agent string, but fortunately this bogus/outdated check has been eliminated. GNOME developer Jiri Eischmann has pointed out that those with up-to-date versions of Chrome or Firefox on other non-Ubuntu Linux distributions should now have fine out-of-the-box access to Netflix via its HTML5 video player.
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