Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

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kjemmo
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Joined: April 5th, 2011, 10:31 am

Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by kjemmo »

Hi everybody.

I would like to create my own custom portable version of Firefox.

Please note that i can not simply use the portable version that Portable Apps provide as I need to do several tweaks. Also I need to distribute my version to a small and limited user group and re-distribution is not allowed by Portable Apps. That would be violating there terms.

So can anyone help me achieve this goal?.

A zip file with a folder that contains all files needed to run Firefox including the Firefox profiles will be a solution. In other words the profiles must be stored in the same folder as Firefox, so it is truly portable.

An easy way would be to just install the Portable Apps version, make the tweaks i need, compress it all in a zip file and then distribute this file. But this is against the terms and conditions from Portable Apps, so that is not an option. Also I'm curious on how to do this right.

All suggestions are most welcome.
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dfoulkes
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by dfoulkes »

I think that you are going to have much better results on finding answers to your question by searching the Net... you may be lucky here but I doubt it.... I did a quick net-search and the first target it found with this...
how to make firefox portable without going to portableapps.com or zip (no internet) 100%working - YouTube

...and I see a lot more... I used making firefox portable for my search.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
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LIMPET235
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by LIMPET235 »

Moving this to 3rd Party, Unofficial Builds forum...
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kjemmo
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by kjemmo »

dfoulkes wrote:I think that you are going to have much better results on finding answers to your question by searching the Net... you may be lucky here but I doubt it.... I did a quick net-search and the first target it found with this...
how to make firefox portable without going to portableapps.com or zip (no internet) 100%working - YouTube

...and I see a lot more... I used making firefox portable for my sea.ch.


Have you seen that video? It will is by no means a guide on how to make a portable version of Firefox. It wont work. The other guides I have found are also of very low quality.

Trust me I have spend several hours trying to find a guide or just some guidelines on which files to be aware of, but no luck so far. The problem is that 95% of all guides is about downloading and installing the portable version from Portable Apps and that is not an option for me.

It may seem like a simple google search will give you all you need but it doesn't.

I have spend several hours searching today without any luck. It is not because I am lazy and wont do the needed research, but the research I have done have not been fruitful.

So if anyone can guide me in the right direction I can still need help.
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trolly
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by trolly »

Here is just the way PortableApps is doing it:
PortableApps uses a starter application which calls firefox with the -P option to a local profile. This local profile has some special settings like disk cache disabled.

You can do that even with a batch file.
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dfoulkes
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by dfoulkes »

kjemmo wrote:Trust me I have spend several hours trying to find a guide or just some guidelines on which files to be aware of, but no luck so far. The problem is that 95% of all guides is about downloading and installing the portable version from Portable Apps and that is not an option for me.

It may seem like a simple google search will give you all you need but it doesn't.

I have spend several hours searching today without any luck. It is not because I am lazy and wont do the needed research, but the research I have done have not been fruitful.


Welllll.... geeeee... had you mentioned 'anything' about searching the Net ... prior to even posting here in the first place, I wouldn't have even made any posts to this thread...

It's best to spell it all out 'first' when coming here... saves lots of time.... for all of us.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
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the-edmeister
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by the-edmeister »

I have viewed a number of other D-I-Y YouTube video how-to's for "making Firefox portable" when attempting help a different user over at SuMo a few months ago. They all leave out the "finer points" like disabling the cache and how to create a new Profile in the "portable folder" where all the other "portable files" are sitting. Plus no mention made of how to prevent the Registry entries from entering Windows.

Yes, a D-I-Y portable version can be made, but there's a "little more" to it than what that video displayed.


.
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kjemmo
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by kjemmo »

dfoulkes wrote:
Welllll.... geeeee... had you mentioned 'anything' about searching the Net ... prior to even posting here in the first place, I wouldn't have even made any posts to this thread...

It's best to spell it all out 'first' when coming here... saves lots of time.... for all of us.


No worries at all. I should have mentioned that initial research had been done.
kjemmo
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by kjemmo »

the-edmeister wrote:I have viewed a number of other D-I-Y YouTube video how-to's for "making Firefox portable" when attempting help a different user over at SuMo a few months ago. They all leave out the "finer points" like disabling the cache and how to create a new Profile in the "portable folder" where all the other "portable files" are sitting. Plus no mention made of how to prevent the Registry entries from entering Windows.

Yes, a D-I-Y portable version can be made, but there's a "little more" to it than what that video displayed.


.


This is exactly the problem. All the finer details are left out or just not addressed at all...

I wonder we can do a guide together? I mean if anyone with any knowledge about this will help out, I would not mind putting it all together in a guide that could be posted here. Or simply make the build available for anyone.

Maybe we can start out by defining what the goal is. So we know in detail what it is that we want to achieve.

In short I would say the goal is to create build similar to the Portable Apps version but without the restrictions on deístribution. I do not need a exe file though a zipped folder would be fine.

Such a build will feature:

* Does not rely on anything outside the portable folder.
* Firefox files and profiles are in the same portable folder.
* It must be updatable when new Firefox versions are released.
* Prevention of Registry entries in Windows.

Another nice but needed feature will be the opotion to save several profiles within the portable folder and run them with the -P command.

Anyone else who would find a build like this usefull?
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trolly
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by trolly »

To my knowledge the only registry key Firefox is creating is the "default application" entry. This can be prevented by "pre-setting" the "do not ask again" setting of "make me the default application" (don't know the exact names).
On Windows it will still scan the registry for plugins.

If you disable the disk cache nothing is written to any disk. Or set the cache folder setting accordingly.
Create a starter application which calls a standard firefox with a pre-defined profile.
Any firefox instance which is not modified is able to update itself from the Mozilla servers. Tried that my self with the PortableApps version.

The main work will be creating a working preset profile to ship with firefox. I see no need to modify firefox itself.
You can check the settings from the PortableApps version.
Think for yourself. Otherwise you have to believe what other people tell you.
A society based on individualism is an oxymoron. || Freedom is at first the freedom to starve.
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mgagnonlv
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Re: Portable version of Firefox without using PortableApps

Post by mgagnonlv »

@kjemmo

I don't know how extensive is your distribution, what you want to modify from the original Firefox, what are your programming skills and what you can do in terms of easiness of installation. I should also warn you that I have never done any PortableApps programming. Here are a few ideas:

1. There must be some decent resource on PortableApps preparation. Cyberfox, Waterfox, LibreOffice (to name a few) do it by themselves.

2. In terms of functionality, Firefox and Firefox Portable are identical. For instance, you can take a copy of the Firefox program (the contents of c:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox) and throw it into X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\App\Firefox. Likewise, you can take a copy of your installed profile (the contents of C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxx.default) and place it into X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\Data\profile.
Therefore, you could have people install your customized Firefox in two steps:
a. Install the stock Firefox Portable.
b. Develop a small script that will either replace the program with your customized version of the program, or the user profile with your customized version.

Do a 2-step installation. For example, install the regular, unmodified
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
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