Flash saves in Windows, not in Linux, FileReference.save() - actionscript-3

Question

The code below compiles fine on the Flex 4 SDK on Fedora 15. Mouse-click opens the dialog box, I click okay, and a file is saved, but the file is empty. I run the same SWF file (that was compiled on the Linux machine) on a Windows machine, and the created file contains the expected data.
Then I broke the FileReference declaration out of the function into the class level, hoping to avoid a known bug, but the same problem persists.
Hoping to set up a workaround, I added the debug Flash player to my path and ran the file from Flash without the benefit of the browser, and it works. So now a Flex problem has become a Firefox problem, maybe owing to a shady procedure I used to install the plugin without really understanding what was happening. I am running Firefox 5.0.
In essence my workflow is fixed, but perhaps people who performed the above will not be able to use projects with FileReference.save()? Should I be worried about this edge case?
/*
WriteTheFile.as
Original code by Brian Hodge (brian#hodgedev.com)
Test to see if ActionScript/Flash can write files
*/
package{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.utils.ByteArray;
import flash.net.FileReference;
public class WriteTheFile extends Sprite
{
private var _xml:String;
private var fr:FileReference;
public function WriteTheFile():void
{
if (stage) init();
else addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
}
private function init(e:Event = null):void
{
removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
//Calling the save method requires user interaction and Flash Player 10
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, _onMouseDown);
}
private function _onMouseDown(e:MouseEvent):void
{
fr = new FileReference()
fr.save("<xml><test>data</test></xml>", "filename.txt");
}
}
}
EDIT: was missing a line, fixed above
EDIT: addressed answer in code above, but the same problem exists.
EDIT: This works on the same system when the standalone player is invoked. Therefore this is a browser (FF 5.0) plugin problem.

Answer 1

Try putting the line
var fr:FileReference = new FileReference();
at class level (outside the function). Apparently this is a known bug:
http://www.techper.net/2007/12/30/flash-filereferencebrowse-problems-on-linux/