Test Build of the New Win32 Installer Now Available

Discussion about official Mozilla Thunderbird builds
mscott
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Test Build of the New Win32 Installer Now Available

Post by mscott »

I have finally finished getting the Windows Installer for Thunderbird up and running. I'm putting together this special limited time only version of the Windows Installer for you to download and help test :)......

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/ ... dSetup.exe

The installer was generated from the same bits I built for this week's release build. It includes the new junk control patches as well. For a list of what's new with this build please see and post comments back in:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=61223

Let's put installer specific feedback in this thread and actual Thunderbird issues in the 03-12 release thread listed above.

Some things to note about the new installer:
1) If you select a custom install, you can choose a folder path of your choosing to install the product into. Also, a custom install gives you the option of choosing the Offline extension. You no longer need to download the extension separately. I hope to add more optional packags to the installer such as DOM Inspector in the near future.

2) The installer attempts to register Thunderbird as a Mail and a News client in the windows registry. It also registers itself to handle mailto, news, snews and nntp urls. So hopefully all those settings will just get set in your registry (Thunderbird also sets those values itself the first time you launch it)

3) We create a desktop icon and an icon in the quick launch bar (not sure what you call that) for launching the app.

4) The mozilla branded artwork is temporary.

If the installer checks out ok, I hope to make the Windows nightly build machine start producing installer bits.

-Scott
Last edited by mscott on March 16th, 2004, 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thunderbirds are Go!
pljones
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Re: Test Build of the New Win32 Installer Now Available

Post by pljones »

mscott wrote:3) We create a desktop icon and an icon in the quick launch bar (not sure what you call that) for launching the app.

Please tell me this is optional. I like control over my desktop. Also, you've not mentioned what happens to the Start Menu - do you let the user pick the Start Menu folder? If I move stuff around afterwards, the uninstaller doesn't know about it.

(All the above gripes about the installer apply to Firefox, too.)
Alycat
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Post by Alycat »

Select "Custom", under "Install Folder", select "Browse", the current folder is ns_temp in some temp area, thought it should be something under Program Files
Alycat
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Post by Alycat »

I had already closed TB but still had Moz running. Setup complained that TB was running, click to close, which I did. When completed, Moz had been killed off, and wouldn't start because the default profile was in use. Restarted Windows and all well.
Alycat
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Post by Alycat »

Good to see TB is now in Add/Remove programs, I think users are used to being able to uninstall that way (but I didn't test it).

I don't have a quick launch toolbar, but I strongly agree that any changes to menus, desktop, etc, etc need to be optional.
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djst
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Re: Test Build of the New Win32 Installer Now Available

Post by djst »

mscott wrote:3) We create a desktop icon and an icon in the quick launch bar (not sure what you call that) for launching the app.

Placing a shortcut on the desktop is going against Microsofts Windows XP guidelines of a clean desktop. I *never* have application shortcuts on the desktop, that's what the QuickLaunch and Start menu is for. This applies to the Firefox installer too, but I haven't seen a thread about that so I post it here.

Another issue (that admittedly is debatable) is that you can't specify the install folder unless you go for a custom install. The usual convention is to always allow the user to specify this, but on the other hand, I don't see why a non-techie would want to fiddle with that detail. So on second thought, just ignore this paragraph! ;)

On a more serious note, I couldn't successfully download the installer. It complains about UninstallThunderbird.zip being corrupted. Maybe I have a corrupted connection though.
Scharnout
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Post by Scharnout »

I did a custom install. All went well. One small mistake perhaps:

Image

Running on windows XP classic view.

And please make an option for the icons.
John Liebson
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Post by John Liebson »

Well, as I really need something to complain about, I'll have to resort to pointing out that the readme.txt file (in both Thunderbird and Firefox) is quite outdated.

I do wish that both programs would stop putting a shortcut icon on the desktop, as I don't need yet another set thereof.
raananb
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Post by raananb »

Downloaded and installed with no problems on Windows XP Home.

'Mozlla Thunderbird' folder instead of 'thunderbird' folder is coherent with Firefox setting, and at last gives an uppercase T to thunderbird.

An icon on the desktop is easy to delete so those who like Mircosoft's definition of a clean desktop can easily get rid of that icon. I have nothing against it, and anyway would not like anyone to tell me what a clean desktop is.

I agree with John Liebson's remarks about the readme.txt - is needs dusting. Most of it is useless since it tells how to intall software of differnet platforms whereas this is about a Windows Installer, and the text is only available after Thunderbird is installed...
loosegroove
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Post by loosegroove »

I already had a desktop shortcut for Thunderbird on my desktop and the installer added 3 more.
Bronson C. Elliott
brewthatistrue
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Re: Test Build of the New Win32 Installer Now Available

Post by brewthatistrue »

mscott wrote:2) The installer attempts to register Thunderbird as a Mail and a News client in the windows registry. It also registers itself to handle mailto, news, snews and nntp urls. So hopefully all those settings will just get set in your registry (Thunderbird also sets those values itself the first time you launch it)
is the "get all messages" feature on the list of things to add?
i have like 5-7 email accounts and don't always want to click "get mail" for each of them.

i realize there is more than one extension that does this, so perhaps that is what prevents you from including one by default?

here's the list from texturizer.net
Easy Get Mail Button 2004-03-07
Get All Mail Button 2004-02-20
Get All Messages 2003-06-12

i've personally only used the one that was released first (get all messages) which is equivalent to an OE feature (iirc).
mscott
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Post by mscott »

loosegroove wrote:I already had a desktop shortcut for Thunderbird on my desktop and the installer added 3 more.
It added 3 more icons? Really? What were they? We should only add a single icon for launching the app.
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mscott
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Post by mscott »

Gee, it's nice to see everyone is enjoying the new installer :)

As far as creating icons & stuff goes, we share the same installer framework as firefox which was built from seamonkey. Shouldn't be any new behaviors here unique to us....
Thunderbirds are Go!
pljones
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Post by pljones »

Mmm, mailto links aren't working and Start->Run.. "mailto:a@b" gives "The specified path does not exist".

Delving into regedit...

HKCR\mailto\shell\open\command
(Default) REG_SZ C:\PROGRA~1\THUNDE~1\THUNDE~1.EXE -compose %1
That's from my previous install, by the look of it. Manually changed to
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose %1
and it works.

HKCR\Protocols\Handler\mailto
CLSID REG_SZ {3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}
Not sure what uses that but it refers on to %SystemRoot%\System32\mshtml.dll. Several bits in the registry point to URL:MailTo handler.
John Liebson
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Post by John Liebson »

mscott wrote:Gee, it's nice to see everyone is enjoying the new installer :)

As far as creating icons & stuff goes, we share the same installer framework as firefox which was built from seamonkey. Shouldn't be any new behaviors here unique to us....

True, but would it be difficult to add what so many other installers have, an option for creating a desktop icon?

Scott, that is a rhetorical question in the sense that I have no idea whatsoever as to whether that would be difficult; if it would not, then I suggest it be added.
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