Deployment:Deploying Firefox

Deploying Firefox

This article provides links and references to issues that might come up when considering or executing a Firefox deployment plan. It describes a wide variety of tools and features available that can be used to deploy Firefox and centrally manage and control the use of Firefox in enterprise, business, education, and a variety of large and small organizational settings.

Deploying Firefox ESR

Firefox ESR is an extended support release; deployment tools should be very similar since there are only minor changes between the normal release version and the ESR.

Installer Options

See Installer:Command Line Arguments for details on how to customize the Firefox installer and make it run silently.

Deployment Tools

Automated deployment of Firefox with extensions, themes, and pre-configuration http://firefox.dbltree.com/ (no longer maintained)

Firefox ADM (Active Directory deployment) Manage Firefox settings through Group Policy and Active Directory. http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/mcs/FirefoxADM/Readme.htm

Software Update

Mozilla offers automated updates of security patches and bug fixes for Firefox and Thunderbird though its software update system. You can choose to use this system or modify the Firefox configuration to turn software updates off and gain more control over the update process. An overview of the software update system can be found at Software Update.

Extending and Customizing Firefox for Enhanced Productivity

You can control thousands of Firefox settings, and extend Firefox with additional Addons to provide the best web experience for your users.

To see the many settings that can be customized in Firefox type:

   about:config

in the location bar of the browser. Documentation about each of these preferences is available from a wide variety of sources. One of the best may be at the mozdev site

The Very Best Firefox Extensions for Entrepreneurs article recommend several Firefox addons that might be useful for increasing productivity of users inside large organizations.

A variety of tools are also available to assist in making changes to the browser and repackaging these changes before deploying to your users. More information on those tools is provided below

Firefox Customization (CCK and Repackaging Tools)

The Firefox Client Customization Kit (CCK) was designed as a successor to two Netscape products, CCK, and Mission Control Desktop (MCD). These two products were used to customize Netscape browsers for deployment for ISPs (CCK) and enterprises (MCD).

The goal of the Firefox CCK is to provide an extension that can be deployed with Firefox that does most basic customizations.

A CCK addon is now available at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/cck/

Information on the release repackaging tool is available here http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/release-repackager/

Centralized Settings Management and Control

The core technology in Firefox and Thunderbird contains a feature called "Mission Control Desktop/Auto Config" that can be used to centrally manage Browser and Mail configuration settings for the client software that is deployed across an organization. The source code is here:

http://mxr.mozilla.org/comm-central/source/mozilla/extensions/pref/autoconfig/src/

The code is still in use by Thunderbird, and still probably works for Firefox, although testing would be needed to confirm. If anyone has tested please update with status here.

More documentation on this feature can be found at:

Most of the controls are carried out via the preference system. An overview of the this system can be found at

Extensive lists of preferences can be found at:

http://preferential.mozdev.org/preferences.html

Some customization ideas can be found here

http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips

This article also talks about controlling other features such as bookmarks and history and an approach to "Securing Mozilla in the Public Library":

http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/pro/mozilla/

Companies

List of companies and contacts who can help with your evaluation, pilot projects, and deployment of Firefox or Thunderbird across your organization is provided below.

Epidata Consulting - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wayforth - London, UK
Browser Garage - Mountain View, CA

  Link/website appears inactive 2011-10-05

Kaply Consulting - Austin, TX - contact Michael Kaply
Webconverger - London, Berlin, Singapore & world wide

We are also interested in hearing about your success stories or problems at partners@mozilla.org

Licensing/Distribution Terms and Conditions

The Firefox End User License can be found here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/

and more information about logo and trademark use can be found here: http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/

United States Export Control Information

Firefox and NSS are publicly available software not subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) per EAR 734.3(b) and 734.7. Because Firefox is not subject to the EAR it does not have an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN). Mozilla has completed the notification for Firefox and NSS publicly available encryption source code per EAR 742.15(b).

The Export Notice can be found at http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/export-notice

More information on exporting products made from Open Source can be found at https://www.bis.doc.gov/encryption/enc.htm and https://www.access.gpo.gov/bis/ear/ear_data.html.

We strongly caution you not to act on your personal reading of export regulations. They are complex and loaded with history, precedent, and context which often require interpretation from a qualified attorney.