Making my own Netscape 7: CCK Question

[profman]

I would like to make my own customized CCK version of Netscape 7 for use by my colleagues at work and family. I have already registered with Netscape, downloaded the CCK program, and read through the documentation (although I have not yet installed the CCK).

It all seems quite interesting and doable, but I have one question before I try (I did not see an obvious answer in the documentation):

How do I make a complete download package for distribution instead of an installer that looks for the files at a remote location?

I don't intend to compete with Sillydog. I just want to encourage my friends to use Netscape, and this seems to be the best way.

Thanks for any help.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[DJGM]

Basically, all you need to do is . . .

1. Install the CCK app is a convenient folder.

2. Run the CCK app, to create you own customized NS7 binaries.

3. After completing the wizard, your customised NS7 binaries are
in the folder labelled "Output". The CCK will tell you exactly where
that folder is, as soon as you have completed the CCK wizard.

4. Open up CONFIG.INI in Notepad, and examine it carefully to see
if there are any other changes you'd like to do with your package.

5. Package all the files in your Output folder as a zipfile. You could
even make your zipfile into an self-extracting executable file. This
can be done quite easily with programs like WinRAR and/or WinZip.

(Both WinRAR and WinZip are available as time-limited trialware.
WinRAR should be registered after 40 days, and WinZip after 30.)

Hope that helps.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0

[profman]

Sounds good, and I have installed the CCK and made a first pass at creating a version.

I now have a few more questions.

Under "Output" I find two directories, "Core" and "Shell." I believe that Shell relates only to the CD autorun feature and that I can skip that for now. Is that right?

Under "Core" I find two executables, NSSetup.exe and SETUP.EXE. Which one is actually used to install Netscape and do both have to be present for installation?

So I can just zip up or distribute all the files in "Core" and my friends can start the install process by starting the correct setup file?

This sure looks like a lot of fun!
I'll eventually report back on my results.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[DJGM]

You shouldn't have the "Core" and "Shell" folders, unless you're specifically
making your own Netscape 7.0 for distribution on CD. As for the setup files,
the one that actually fires up the setup wizard is SETUP.EXE. I recommend
renaming this to something like N7setup.exe, and also, as the NSSetup.exe
doesn't really do anything except open up a DOS prompt window, and tries
to extract files, it will do no harm whatsoever to delete this file, and doing
so should save you just over 200Kb in each copy of your NS7 distribution.

I'd advise running the N7 CCK app again to edit your current distribution,
and when you do, leave blank the screens about creating CD-rom based
distributions. Ideally, once you're satisfied with the files in your Output
folder, you can easily pack them up into a zipfile, or a self extracting
executable file, which you can then burn on to CD-R discs,
if you have access to a CD-RW drive.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; m18) Gecko/20010131 Netscape6/6.01

[profman]

With the good advice from DJGM above, I have been able to successfully make my own customize version of Netscape 7, but with one last problem.

Even if I do not include Mail/News, Instant Messenger installs itself (using the nim.xpi). Most staff people here at my university do not want AIM at all.

How can I eliminate AIM (also known as NIM) from my customized version??? Another question would be: How I could make AIM optional even if I make a version with Mail/News?

I get an error message if I simply delete nim.xpi from my collection of files.

Thanks if you can help on this.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[Antony]

It is a bit complicated if you want to make NIM optional.
You can select not to include both Instant Messenger and Mail/News in the last screen of CCK setup programme.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (CK-SillyDog)

[DJGM]

You will need to edit the CONFIG.INI file.

Open up the file in Notepad, locate the following lines and remove them.

[Component Instant Messenger]
;*** LOCALIZE ME BABY ***
Description Short=Instant Messenger
;*** LOCALIZE ME BABY ***
Description Long=Combined AIM and ICQ Client.
Archive=nim.xpi
Install Size=1824
Install Size System=1
Install Size Archive=646
Attributes=SELECTED|INVISIBLE|FORCE_UPGRADE
Force Upgrade File0=[SETUP PATH]\Cool\CoolSocket.dll
Dependee0=Component MailNews

Save the edited CONFIG.INI file.

With these lines present, the NS7 installer expects the nim.xpi file to be
included among your CCK'd binaries. Once you've removed these lines,
and saved the file, you can then safely delete the nim.xpi file from your
distribution, and you can then offer your own customised version of the
browser, minus the combined AIM/ICQ instant messaging component.

Bear in mind though, if any user wishes to use the built-in Mail and News
client, to send and receive messages from a Netscape WebMail account,
the combined AIM/ICQ component is required, and must be installed.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0

[profman]

Thanks for the info, gentlemen. I'll work on it from my end.

Antony: I already tried unchecking Mail/News (with IM) in the CCK and STILL got IM in my customization. I wouldn't be suprised if I did something wrong, so I'll double check my work. I'm not perfect yet.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[Antony]

Antony: I already tried unchecking Mail/News (with IM) in the CCK and STILL got IM in my customization. I wouldn't be suprised if I did something wrong, so I'll double check my work. I'm not perfect yet.

Sometimes the setting (your unselecting) won't really stick, try again is the best method I say. (OR create a new build) Don't ask me why.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (CK-SillyDog)

[profman]

Just using the CCK, there is no way, in my hands, to prevent nim.xpi from being placed in my distribution. I can check and uncheck boxes in the CCK, copy or create configurations, (and so on) in the CCK and nim.xpi is still there . I did not install each attempt to see if NIM is always installed (I assumed that it would be). I even downloaded another copy of the CCK to my home Win 98 system and gave it a try there with the same result.

I think I'll try DJGM's advice to rid myself of NIM.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[profman]

I have now been able to make CCK versions of Netscape 7 without any traces of AIM/ICQ which no one at my University wants. I have customized two versions, one with Mail/News, and one with only the browser component. Neither has the activation feature. I have even replaced the Netscape "N" in the upper right hand corner of the browser window with my own choices of animated and static GIFS.

I do note that the CCK itself would ALWAYS place nim.xpi into my distribution regardless of what options I checked or did not check. I had to manually remove NIM through the use of the advice above from DJGM.

Thanks to all of you who gave me advice and feedback. I'm sure that more of my friends and colleagues will now be using Netscape 7 because of your efforts.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (nscd2)

[DJGM]

No probs, it's all part of the service.
Your bill comes to a total of $500!
All major credit cards accepted!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (CK-DJGM-i.net)