Portable App Development

Hi everybody,

I made a simple utility that install, and uninstall, the required registry keys to install plugins.

You can download it from here.

Usage:
1 - unzip "MozRegKey.exe" on Portable Firefox's installation folder;
2 - run MozRegKey.exe and clic on "Install" button;
3 - run plugin installer;
4 - clic on "Uninstall" button and then "Exit"

Test on Windows Xp with the following plugins:
-Macromedia Flash Player 8.0.22.0
-Macromedia Authorware Web Player 2004.0.0.73
-Macromedia Shockwave Player 10.1.0.11

Thank you John for all your hard work on creating Portable Apps. I use them throughout the week and look forward to the new Thunderbird 1.5 once it's adjusted for portability.

I've thought about asking for information on your Portable builds so I can make a PortableFirefox and PortableThunderbird for Mac OS X. I also use a Mac at home, and most of my family uses them.

But what I've really wanted a Cross Platform PortableFirefox & Thunderbird since I use Macs, Windows and Linux platforms - at home, work, family & friends.

Luckily, I just stumbled across this and thought it should be listed - PortableFirefox for Windows & Mac OS X. Seems them extended your work.

I'm working on a couple ways to make OpenOffice.org smaller. It turns out that I'd left in the UNO-Python bridge, which isn't necessary, which saves some space. A couple other options, like TestTool can be removed. Also, I'm considering removing the help files from the base install and then having them be an add-in as a seperate download. Removing the help files along saves over 16MB from the final installed version.

All told, with the above changes removing some unused features (at least when portable), making help optional, and then adding in a default set of settings (to alleviate the long path issue mentioned on the product page), we'd wind up with a 120MB package. The help files would then be a 16MB addon download, if desired.

You could make AbiWord ultra-portable if you hosted it online. Is there a way to make it available for use online with save and open functionality? This may seem a little far-fetched, but it would eliminate the need to carry it with you on a drive. In fact, if it is possible with AbiWord, then you could put OpenOffice online, (OOoO) and it would even eliminate the need for office software installed on a machine.

-Justin

JUST SO YOU ALL KNOW! Winace runs off a flash drive. If you need it for somehwere that doen't have it installed (like SCHOOL!) it runs off the flash drive w/o installing anything on the comp.

Email services such as netscape and hotmail are not able to be used for portable thunderbird but it is possible to check hotmail on outlook. I would like to see PTB with the ability to check http email.

I have just started using, and can't imagine life without, PStart.

I like the idea of having applications autorun when you start PStart (PortableFireFox).

What I would like is a program to run when you CLOSE PStart.
It could get a bit tricky but I would love the option to have the USB drive dismounted when you close PStart.

I have been following U3 for a while, and noticed 2 Firefox Items on the u3 download page. 1 by you, and one by yourbrainz.com.

The one by you says coming soon...
Is This True? Are you developing your version for U3?

The one Yourbrainz put out is not as friendly as yours because they made all sorts of changes to support Annon Browsing, as well as no mater what your Home Page is they will always be the First Tab (no way to disable it)Its really annoying with session saver.

Back to the topic
I Hope you are making a U3 version, If not I will still continue to use the Current version of PFF.

I would love to help get more portable apps on your site... just waiting on a simple tutorial. Keep-up the great work, man!

I had an idea a while back and have been surprised not to find anyone else having the same. The quick summary:

Run a program in a "sandbox", similar to the Linux fakeroot tool, intercepting all accesses and changes to files, registry, etc., redirecting them to a different location.

It should be clear how this approach could make almost any application portable: simply run its installer in the sandbox, redirecting to your USB key.

There are bunches of other uses for this too, though: keep an easy archive of a clean, already set-up copy of an app; prevent two apps from possibly conflicting with each other; quickly sharing complex setups (e.g. to show the existance of a certain bug); easily moving infrequently-used apps off of the main disk... and finally, if locked down enough... run a questionable app (or web browser) in a sandbox where it couldn't mess with anything else. (chroot for Windows.)