UPX with autoupdate capability for Firefox Portable and Thunderbird Portable 1.0

The SF page is up:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/upxau
The next major release will support PAF, but if it is not in PAF, the user will need to manually adjust the path (I'll be using a variable for ease-of-use). There will also be a couple other things I mention in the todo section.

Files are up:
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=208704

Because I was unable to test it thoroughly, I didn't catch that xcopy isn't working the way I thought it would. copy works, though. In the :prepare section, replace

xcopy "%%a" ..\bak /L /Y

with

copy "%%a" ..\bak\%%a /Y

and

xcopy uninstall\helper.exe ..\bak\uninstall /L /Y

with

copy uninstall\helper.exe ..\bak\uninstall\helper.exe /Y

and in :applypatches, replace

for %%b in (..\likenew\*,..\likenew\components\*,..\likenew\uninstall\helper.exe) do xcopy %%b . /Y /E /L

with

for %%b in (*.exe,*.dll,components\*.dll,uninstall\helper.exe) do copy ..\likenew\%%b %%b /Y

This will be fixed in the next release. Due to some difficulties I've decided to release beta 2 without all the new features I wanted (verbosity and optional compression of xdelta patches). beta 2 will be thoroughly tested before release.

Also, I'd like the thread trimmed (delete the tangent on hosting). kthxbye.

You can find it in the usual place:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=208704

I've tested it, and everything seems to be working.
Major changes:
-> PAF structure (install instructions included)
-> More (quantity) explanatory messages
-> The xcopy mess is taken care of
A detailed changelog is in the archive.

I've done some rearranging on the download page, so read the release notes!

Have fun with this release. I'm looking forward to your feedback, so go test it already!

I had hoped to release beta 3 before Xmas, but I haven't had a chance to work on it for the past few weeks. Should be out in the next few days.
This release has a lot of changes and a few big features added. After I get some feedback on it, I'll work on the final beta.

John, would you consider adding it to the apps hosted here when I make a final release? I'd really like to spark some interest in this project.

update: debugging is taking longer than expected. It will be out this month, hopefully within a week or two.

It's finally done. There are a lot new features and improvements, including optional archiving of the patches. It's in the usual place (link in the OP). I'd really like some feedback, so don't hesitate to make a comment.

I don't have access to a Windows box, so I cannot continue development right now. I'm saving up some money for a very nice laptop, and I will continue development once I have things set up, so it will be at least another month before anything new is out. Of course, if you would really like to expedite the process, you could make a donation ;).

ZachHudock:
The basic premise to allow one to compress the binaries without breaking autoupdating with partial update packages (they just patch the existing files), since the updater will refuse to use the smaller packages and download a "full update" if the files do not match the checksum (i.e. have been modified). UPX's --exact switch does not work with w32 binaries, meaning it will not restore the original files upon decompression. See the SF page and the readme file in the latest release for more info.

Stevoisiak:
The autoupdater doesn't work anymore in FxP? when did this happen?
Oh, and UPX shouldn't cause any problems for any programs that don't need to write to the file on disk (Firefox 3 should be just fine).

I will begin developing in a week or two. Beta 4 should be out late mid to late July.
Note: I am running Vista now and not XP (this shouldn't matter, though). Also, I will not make a final release if Bug 406335 is present in Fx 3 until it has been fixed. All releases will include a mention in the readme.