CCK:Overview

I'd like to use this page to try to foster some Client Customization Kit (CCK) discussion.

I'm looking to revive the CCK.

Here's some info:

So basically, there were two products from Netscape, one from the old 4.x days called Mission Control Desktop, and one from Netscape 7 called CCK (actually MCD renamed, I'm simplifying here)

The MCD product provided an interface to lockdown preferences, as well as the CCK functionality. It was written in Java.

MCD was released as a replacement for the 4.x CCK.

so it went CCK->MCD->CCK

From the FAQ at:

http://wp.netscape.com/partners/distribution/custom/faq.html

What is the difference between the CCK and Netscape Mission Control Desktop?

The CCK and Mission Control Desktop have similar underlying software but substantially different end-user license agreements. Although the CCK is an excellent tool for ISPs and Internet content providers, it does not allow for centralized administration of the browsers, nor does it provide the centralized software distribution tools available with Mission Control Desktop. In addition, the CCK has more restrictions on what preferences can be customized

Here are some old web pages about MCD:

The original 4.x CCK is here:

ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/cck/english/4.5/windows/cck45w_e.zip

The Netscape 7 CCK focused on a customized install. This customized install included things like home page, throbber, throbber icon, help menu, bundling XPIs into the install, etc.

If anyone would like to see the CCK, it can be downloaded here:

ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/cck/english/7.0/NSCCKSetup.exe

Currently, it is Windows only.

There is CCK code in the tree, but I'm not sure it is a good place to start. It is here:

http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/cck/

Anyone have any suggestions as to how to create a cross platform install packager/customizer app?

What is more important to people, a good interface to lock down preferences or a customized install?

Should we look at creating a XUL runner app?

Or should it be an extension to Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird?

--Robin Lu-4/28 10:29:53 CST 2005

We made an MCD like tool before with Java. It contained two componnents. One is Installer Builder to build a customized installation package. The other is Configuration Editor to generate autoconfig.jsc and encoded .cfg file for centralized management of preferences (including locking). However, the project was canceled for business reason at last although we have already got a workable product for Mozilla 1.2 and Mozilla 1.4.

We chose Java because at that time xul application was not as easy to make as today. Now it is a good choice to build the installer builder as a XUL app. In the fontend, we can collect customizing information and generate script like this: http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/cck/ib/script_Windows.ib In the backend, we can either use native xpcom or native package builder to generate installer packages for different platform for different needs. It is very flexible. Our Installer Builder for Mozilla was able to generate RMP(linux only), tar.gz and Mozilla installer package for both Linux and Solaris. Though we haven't tested, it could be easy to generate installer package on Windows too.

For centralized management, autoconfig still works for Firefox/Thunderbird/Mozilla. We can build a tool like the configuration editor in MCD as we did before, but I think to make a web application is more convinient. By using configuration editor, you have to generate the autoconfig.jsc locally and deploy it to the central server. If we build a web application, admin can maintain the configuration directly on the central server.

--MikeKaply 08:38, 28 Apr 2005 (PDT) Was there any effort made in the beginning to move some of the CCK specific changes into preferences, or was it always assumed that DTD/properties files would be modified?