An updated build of the ‘NSS’ library required to make HTML5 Netflix playback work natively on Ubuntu is now being rolled out to LTS desktops.

NSS 3.17.x is being issued as a security update to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, where it replaces the older (Netflix incompatible) 3.15.4 version.

Ubuntu 14.10, which is currently in development, already ships with the newer build of the requisite package.

Netflix, Finally

The bump will allow video streaming service Netflix to — finally — support Linux desktops natively, through Google Chrome and the Encrypted Media Extension (EME) module it comes bundled with.

Don’t feel confused if you upgrade NSS only to find things as they were before. Netflix say they will only be able to “…lift the user-agent filtering which will make Netflix HTML5 play in Chrome…with no hacks required’ once the update has rolled out to enough users.

Still, Native Netflix Linux support out-of-the-box, no user-agent foo needed, is now within touching distance. Who’d have thunk it?