[CLOSED THREAD] Portable Firefox

[CritterNYC]

does anyone know if modifications need to be made to install themes on the portable firefox? I installed a theme on my computer and it worked great. when i brought it to a new computer, the theme was no longer installed.

As with extensions, I believe themes use hard paths with drive letters. The same limitations (and possibly workaround) would apply to themes.

[CritterNYC]

Ok, it seems that you can get both themes and extensions running with relative paths by editting the appropriate files. As Cusser mentioned, you need to alter any mention of an absolute path like this:

c:baseURL="jar:file:///X:/firefox/profile/extensions/GUID/chrome/package.jar!/content/package/"

And change it to a relative path like this:

c:baseURL="jar:resource:/profile/extensions/GUID/chrome/package.jar!/content/package/"

After you install an extension, exit firefox, open your profile\extensions\extensions.rdf file and make the changes above. After you install a theme, exit firefox and open your profile\chrome\chrome.rdf file and make the changes above. This will render the newly installed theme or extension portable.

Previous relative paths mention:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... =30#570853

[CritterNYC]

We could possibly automate replacement of absolute paths with relative paths in our calling script. I'm not sure if we can do this with a batch file, but using something like SED, which we could bundle, is a possibility. Partial example:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operati ... 28466.html

Additionally, we could switch from calling with a BAT file to calling with a VBS file. This could include the necessary file alterations to the chrome.rdf and extensions.rdf files before calling firefox with the appropriate options. My BAT file abilities may not be up to snuff, but I may be able to try my hand at a VBS if I get some time.

[FlashBanG]

I havent found any mention of cbaseURL in extensions.rdf.. I just found it in chrome.rdf.. Yet to try it out on a different computer to test it out..

[FlashBanG]

Darin Fisher commented saying it might work :-) .

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=246209

[CritterNYC]

I havent found any mention of cbaseURL in extensions.rdf.. I just found it in chrome.rdf.. Yet to try it out on a different computer to test it out..

I installed the <a href="http://texturizer.net/firefox/themes/#Noia%202.0%20eXtreme%20edition">Noia theme</a> in my portable firefox and it does the same thing as the extensions do. Changing them to relative paths worked fine.

[mai9]

thanks CritterNYC for the webpage :)

I downloaded the package and firefox.exe is 2.827.776 bytes and only has main icon uncompressed.

I managed to get to 2.805.248 bytes with all icons uncompressed. Here's the command line for this:

Code: Select all

upx --best --compress-icons=0 --nrv2d --crp-ms=999999 -k firefox.exe

that's 22KB less

Compressing all icons but first gives 2.782.208 bytes

Code: Select all

upx.exe --best --crp-ms=999999 --nrv2d -k firefox.exe

this last one is 45KB smaller

always using v1.24

[CritterNYC]

thanks CritterNYC for the webpage :)

I downloaded the package and firefox.exe is 2.827.776 bytes and only has main icon uncompressed.

I managed to get to 2.805.248 bytes with all icons uncompressed. Here's the command line for this:

Code: Select all

upx --best --compress-icons=0 --nrv2d --crp-ms=999999 -k firefox.exe

that's 22KB less

Compressing all icons but first gives 2.782.208 bytes

Code: Select all

upx.exe --best --crp-ms=999999 --nrv2d -k firefox.exe

this last one is 45KB smaller

always using v1.24

I'd just used the default options in my version. I hadn't gotten more into the UPX documentation. Is there any quality loss with icon compression?

[mai9]

the only difference is that compressed icons can't be used *outside* firefox.exe (they still can be used within firefox.exe). Since this release is not supposed to associate .html with its icon, now I guess that's not a problem :-k

I didn't take the time to check with all compressed .dll but I guess it would save 100kB or more if they are compressed with "--best --crp-ms=999999 --nrv2d" switches.

If you want I can do the tests and send you by email the results zipped for the Portable Firefox.

[mmortal03]

Great work! I am running this successfully off of a 10 MB Ramdrive I created on Windows ME (with the Real DOS Mode patch of course). I was having issues with getting 3rd party ramdisk programs to work, so I went ahead and used the included ramdrive.sys.

I was going to use the standard Firefox builds, but ramdrive.sys won't allow long file name support for ramdrives greater than 10 MB (it is a documented issue). So, given the fact that I could not get Firefox to run with all its filenames truncated to 8+3, I sought out a smaller build of Firefox that would fit inside of 10 MB and came across this one. If anyone wants more details on how to get this to work, I can post more info.

Btw, how often do you plan on updating this build?

[FlashBanG]

CritterNYC mentioned he would make another build once .9final came out (which it did last night), so I'm anxiously waiting for it :-D

I would guess as this thread matures, and we get suggestions either for
-new extensions to be bundled
-new plugins
-changes to the default profile
-reductions in size

or
-new features or patches in firefox nightlies

a new version will be released.. Depends on CritterNYC's patience and time though, unless someone else wants to make another build.. But i'd say CritterNYC has got the "Unofficial Official Portable Firefox Builder" title nailed down with his diligence ;)

[Alycobaba]

I have compressed my firefox.exe using UPX command: upx --best --compress-icons=0 --nrv2d --crp-ms=999999 -k firefox.exe and it worked great! Could you explain how I can compress the dll's using UPX... I looked through the documentation but can't figure out how to... can i use UPX to compress my dll's? Thx!

[BenBasson]

upx *.dll ?

[Alycobaba]

Is that a question to me or a response :) hehe If that is a response does that mean I have to do each one indiv. ?

[CritterNYC]

I'm working on 0.9 Final right now ;-)