xolox Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 Hi everyone!A few days ago I discovered unattended.msfn.org. Since then I've been working to get all my apps to install silent. It's been quite a pain, but untill now everything worked, eventually...Last two programs were Firefox & Thunderbird. I've read the post about combining the Firefox data with the Mozilla installer, and tried it. Worked perfect. But I couldn't find any info on Thunderbird 0.7.2 So I just went ahead and tried the same trick. Could have guessed it wouldn't work... Anyways, I've been busy with NSIS 2 lately, so I thougt I'd give it a shot. NSIS supports silent switches. And you can write your own switches. I'm working on it right now.My idea is to make one package for Firefox & Thunderbird. You will be able to choose (through commandline or GUI) whether to install Firefox, Thunderbird or both. And the uninstaller will provide an option to "modify" the installation = remove one of the two.So I want to know if anyone is interested. Could anyone use this package? Of course, when new milestones are released I'll make a new installer.And one last thing... I REALLY like 1600×1200 + 128px icons. And I found some for Firefox & Thunderbird. So would anyone complain if I replace the original icons ala Resource Hacker? I think the icons are about 180 KB each. Would this bloat the program-files? See below for the icons in png (linked from deviantart). Of course, if I'll use these, I'll have to ask the author ...Thanks in advance for any reactions / comments.Peter Odding----------------------------------http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/5176277/:http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/6956847/:[edit] If I'm actually gonna do this I'll need some space to dump the installer ... My own webpage has only 10 MB room, so I don't think that's gonna work (though I must say that with bzip2 compression in nsis2 the size is down to 12,3 MB, compare that to 35,7 MB uncompressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prathapml Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 If I'm actually gonna do this I'll need some space to dump the installer ... 35.7 MB uncompressedDo you want better compression?Check out 7-ZipI compressed my 42 MB Firefox+Thunderbird folder, added an SFX module to it, and ended up with an SFX archive of just 6.5 MB (at ultra compression). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepnmojo Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 I hava a Firefox one, if you want to build off that.Also NSIS supports 7z compression, which is why I use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prathapml Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 So I want to know if anyone is interested. Could anyone use this package?Yup, lots of people would be interested *IF* only you could commit to releasing a new installer on every new official release. Your idea of the "modify" capable installer sounds good too!I think the icons are about 180 KB each. Would this bloat the program-files?This would be too much bloat. Of this, I'm sure. I'd rather not waste 180 KB on something as unimportant as an icon (even if it is going to be compressed). On my unattended CD, even 100 KB is very valuable - and can tilt the scales as to whether I use something or not.BTW, the images of the icons that you have posted above, are on inaccessible links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xolox Posted August 1, 2004 Author Share Posted August 1, 2004 I'll remove the icons... No prob. I'll just add them to my own install.And about 7zip: heard about it, but haven't checked it out. How would I include a custom compressor in NSIS? Do I have to compile NSIS again, with 7z support?I have no idea as to how to compile NSIS... I remember something about not having to use any external tools to compile NSIS, but I'm not sure about this, so please enlighten me!And thanks for the offer about the Firefox-installer, but I've already got that part running. After all, Firefox & Thunderbird run out of the zip... And if I'm correct, all my installer needs to do is:1) Copy the selected files to the harddisk,2) register the uninstaller (or *modifier*) with Windows,3) and make shortcutsSorry, those links we're suppost to be:http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/5176277/http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/6956847/One thing I'm not sure about: Does anyone know if profiles will be automatically created at first start of Firefox and/or Thunderbird?! I'm not to sure about this...And I have another idea, though I'm not to sure if this is actually a good idea... Would it be worth to include UPX, and pack all *.exe's and *.dll's, and unpack them @ installtime? Or would compression for the whole installer already cover compressing the runtimes enough ???Peter Odding[edit] I just found out that 7zip is the same as LZMA .... : http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:zFZG03...s&hl=nl&start=3 I already use LZMA most of the time, so that problems solved... And it seems LZMA is better at compression of *.exe's then UPX, so that question is also answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prathapml Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 One thing I'm not sure about: Does anyone know if profiles will be automatically created at first start of Firefox and/or Thunderbird?! I'm not to sure about this...Yes, by default, new profiles are created for each user, the first time when they run Ff and TB. So you are saved some effort on that count.From what I saw, that was your only question left unanswered. Anything else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xolox Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 Anything else?Yes... Me struggling with the NSIS scripts. I'm getting less and less confident I'll be able to write an installer with silent switches AND the option to remove components. But I'll keep working on it. And as soon as I have something working, I'll post a link! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Famer Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 @peter o. not to get off the subject but you should wate till firefox and Thunderbird get to a more stabe version since they keep coming out with new versions every two or three months but in any case im glad to see another suped up cd being made good luck and welcome the msfn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xolox Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 Well, I don't really think that's neccessary. When I have my installer script working, all I have to do is download the new zip's and recompile the installer .... Takes maybe 3 minutes with LZMA compression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Famer Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 cool well post your guide on how you did it. so any one else who may like to do the samething can. thanks for the info on what you have done so far, again welcome to msfn, and good luck with your work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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