On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:09:13 Kevin Tunbull wrote: > Hi! > > I would like to start distributing open office cdroms. I downloaded the iso > from your web site but I think I can create a cd with simpler installation > script for users who are computer illiterate. My idea is not to rewrite > openoffice setup.exe program but to call it from my script with command > line switches that remove some decisions that mean nothing to the ordinary > user.
There is really no problem there. From reading your email, what you want could probably be achieved simply by changing the autorun.inf file to include the switches you want (in fact, that's what I did during the 1.x.x series - the default installation was a single user install, so I included the switches to make an "All Users" installation the default). The actual installer is (IIRC) an NSIS script which in turn wraps the actual full installer. > > For example, why would a user want to change the start menu location? or > the install destination folder under C:\Program Files? :) Most of the defaults were chosen simply as the Windows defaults. We've always realized that most users are simply going to keep hitting the OK button until the installation finishes, but we also know that there are some (I'm sometimes one of them) who do want to put things in a different location. So we had to cater for them. (I haven't used the Windows installer for some time, but IIRC the license is the only dialog where you can't simply hit OK - you have to scroll to the end. That was a deliberate choice, to increase the likelihood that the users will actually read the license.) > > I know that technically I can do that but can I do that LEGALLY without > violating the terms of open office cdrom distribution? Yup. Many distributors produce their own CDs from scratch, usually Windows only, often with Firefox, Thunderbird etc. They usually write their own installers for those CDs too. > > I know that the GPL license allows for wrapping GPL software with installer > without requiring installer to be open source: > > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLCompatInstaller > > but what about openoffice? the conditions on distributing openoffice seem > convoluted and sometimes self contradicting... > > Your advice please. > > Regards, > Kevin Tunbull -- Alex Fisher Co-Lead, CD-ROM Project OpenOffice.org Marketing Community Contact Australia/New Zealand http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/
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