Firefox 5.0

anthonymel
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Firefox 5.0

Post by anthonymel » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:29 pm

Just a heads up t hat 5.0 comes out Monday.

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DraconPern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by DraconPern » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:43 pm

Thanks!
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jperrygodfrey
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jperrygodfrey » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:03 am

Any idea when this MSI will be posted?

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DraconPern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by DraconPern » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:46 pm

should be ready tomorrow. :)
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jgcracknell
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jgcracknell » Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:30 pm

is it possible not to have Flash included so we can apply the latest version from Adobe.

thanks

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jab_au
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jab_au » Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:07 pm

jgcracknell wrote:is it possible not to have Flash included so we can apply the latest version from Adobe.

thanks
I think you can just exclude the install of flash with an MST, and deploy the Flash Plugin MSI from Adobe.

I will say that if you are deploying Firefox via MSI I would question why you wouldn't deploy Flash via the same method.

jgcracknell
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jgcracknell » Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:03 am

Hi

I'd rather deploy Flash via MSI and just Firefox via MSI as individual packages as it means if I upgrade Firefox it doesn't interfere with Flash (as it has done). It would be simpler for people to just apply to Adobe to redistribute Flash MSI and then they can deal with IE and Firefox at the same time.

What is the MST not to install Flash then?

joestern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by joestern » Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:30 am

@JG -

I used Orca to create an MST to disable Flash as follows: In the Feature table, set F_Flash Level to 6

If you've made transforms before, this should get you where you need to be. If not, reply and I will try to create some step-by-step instructions.

- JS

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DraconPern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by DraconPern » Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:49 am

jgcracknell wrote:Hi

It would be simpler for people to just apply to Adobe to redistribute Flash MSI and then they can deal with IE and Firefox at the same time.
Just a note that there are two seperate msi for flash, one that is active x for IE and one that is a plugin for firefox.
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DraconPern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by DraconPern » Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:57 am

I keep including flash for 'historical' reason. Way back in the flash 5 era, the way it installed was to search for firefox and install the dll in the plugin directory. Thus I continue to do the same today. There has also been lots of issues with adobe's flash msi installers which somes do not work at all, and this method sidesteps. The cost is that the clients don't get the updated flash. Thoughts? I don't want to change the configuration (built in Flash), unless almost everyone already do deploy adobe's msi's. I can make the change for Firefox 5, and move the adobe flash stuff into the packager.
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jpa
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jpa » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:57 am

If you use Group Policy to distribute FM Firefox and Flash MSIs separately how do you deal with install order? Our rather simple setup uses a single GPO for software distribution. To make sure Firefox gets installed before Flash you'd need multiple GPOs with Firefox installed by the GPO that's processed first. Unfortunately our current method is messy as well. We deploy FM Firefox with a GPO and use a computer logon script to update the Flash plugin.

joestern
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by joestern » Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:36 pm

@DraconPern - the cost of outdated Flash is not trivial. It's a serious security problem. Using a transform to prevent Flash from installing with FFCE is not a big deal, so admins can make their own decision about how to handle the tradeoff between security and convenience, but I won't miss it when it's gone.

@jpa - why put all your installations in a single GPO? If you put Flash Player (both versions) in a separate GPO, you can make it install after the GPO that has Firefox and everything else.

For the record, here's where you get the Flash Player MSIs: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplay ... tion3.html

jgcracknell
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by jgcracknell » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:39 pm

Hi

It is the issue of Flash security that is the problem. The MSI's do work now and properly. Adobe is having so many security issues that I am even considering removing Acrobat Reader in favour of Foxit.

However, I have to make Flash available. As some have said the order of MSI deployment is an issue and I've found that changing settings in FFCE sometimes doesn't play ball. With friends also deploying FFCE in schools, looking at several 1000 machines none of them experience problems.

If an older version of Flash is installed by FFCE then you get lots of nag screens for end-users (and they can't update it!) - it ends up with more work for the admin. Often the easy way is to force a reinstall of the MSIs (however that puts increased load on the network).

It will keep things more secure and reduce workload! There is nothing worse than a FF update and then 2 days later a Flash update is published because of a massive security hole.

J.

pomroy
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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by pomroy » Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:34 pm

I used to distribute Flash, Acrobat, Firefox, etc. using GPOs but never enjoyed the process very much. Users are forced to reboot and wait for software to load before they can log on and for bigger packages I had a lot of negative feedback from clients. I switched to using Local Update Publisher for widely used third-party applications and I've never looked back. LUP allows you to publish MSI, MSP, or EXE packages to your WSUS server and gives you a separate WSUS-like console to monitor their adoption and failures, etc. It does what Microsoft System Center Updates Publisher promises to do but actually doesn't do. Clients get third-party updates in Windows Update and they get installed without needing admin rights. Try it out, it takes about two days to get up to speed and then you'll wonder why you ever messed with GPO software installs.

-Tom

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Re: Firefox 5.0

Post by DragonHawk » Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:51 pm

FWIW: We already transform the FrontMotion Firefox MSI to not include the Flash install, and install Adobe's Flash MSI packages separately. Flash gets patched too often to tie it into Firefox for updates. We haven't had any significant trouble deploying either, really. (Knock on wood.)

Just my $0.02.

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