This page provides information about downloading and installing Netscape[tm] 7.0 for the Solaris[tm] operating environment.

This page contains the following sections:


System Requirements

You must have the following software and disk space to install and run Netscape[tm]7.0:

Operating Systems:


Desktop Environments:


Disk Space:


Downloading Instructions

Currently, you can only download an English version of Netscape 7.0. Once you have downloaded the software, documentation is provided online, via the help menu, in English only. Perform the following steps to download Netscape 7.0:


  1. Ensure that you have enough disk space.
  2. Review your selections.
  3. Select the version that corresponds to your platform from the following table:

    Platform

    Description

    SPARC Platform Edition

    Global -- uses 128-bit encryption with S/MIME

    Intel Platform Edition

    Global -- uses 128-bit encryption with S/MIME

  4. Before the download starts, a dialog box appears where you can choose the installation directory to download the Netscape 7.0 file. You must ensure that the nstallation directory exists before you download Netscape.



Installing Solaris patches required by Netscape 7.0

If the installation process tells you some Solaris patches are missing on your system, and you have not already done so, download the patch zip file for your Solaris version (from the same web page you downloaded Netscape 7.0 zip file) and unzip the file. Then use the following command to install the patches you need:

patchadd -M patch_path patch_number1... patch_numberN

Where -M means to install multiple patches and patch_path is where you unzipped the downloaded patch zip file. Please note that it requires root permission to run the patchadd command.



Installing Netscape 7.0 With Webstart

After downloading Netscape 7.0, perform the following steps to install the application:

  1. Change to the directory where you downloaded the compressed version of Netscape: % cd <directory name>
  2. Use the following command to extract files:
    % unzip NSinstaller.zip
  3. Change to the NSinstaller directory:
    % cd NSinstaller
  4. Run the Netscape 7.0 Installer:
    % ./NSinstaller
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process. Wait until you see a window "Installation Summary" comes up to inform you whether the installation is successful. "Typical" installation will install Netscape 7.0 at the default location, which will create a "Netscape" directory in your home directory. If you want to install it at a different location, you will need to choose "Custom" installation.
  6. To start Netscape, change to the installation directory and run the following program:
    % ./netscape &



Installing Netscape 7.0 With pkgadd

Note: Installing with pkgadd method may replace your Java installation by the more recent JRE 1.4 depending on where your Java was installed. If you don't want your Java installation replaced, please use Webstart installation method.

  1. Use the su command to change to root user.
  2. Change to the installation directory where the compressed version of Netscape 7.0 was extracted:
    # cd <directory name>
  3. Run the following script to install Netscape 7.0 :
    # ./nsinstall

    4. Note: The installation script installs the Netscape 7.0 packages in the /opt/SUNWns directory on your workstation.
  4. Use the exit command to change to normal user.



Adding Netscape 7.0 to Your PATH

Determine where your PATH variable is set and add the Netscape 7.0 directory to your path. The path may be set in the .dtprofile, .login, or .cshrc file.



Netscape 4.7x to Netscape 7.0 Migration


If you decide to try out Netscape 7.0, it will not affect your ability to use Netscape 4.7x. Both these applications can be running at the same time. But it is not recommended to use two mail clients simultaneously. Netscape 4.7x and Netscape 7.0 write the user's information (preferences, cache files, bookmarks) into different directories:

    Netscape 4.7x - under a~/.netscape directory.

    Netscape 7.0 - under a ~/.mozilla directory.

You can use the -installer command line option to import your Netscape 4.x preferences into Netscape 7.0. See the Release Notes for more details on this. Read the following carefully if you plan to allow use of Netscape 4.7x and Netscape 7.0 mailers at the same time.

During the migration of your Netscape 4.7x preferences such as bookmarks, proxy servers and email setup, a copy of preference files, email setup and local mail folder is made by default. The copy of local mail folders can waste lot of disk space and may be undesired. We offer you two choices to control the behavior of local mail folder migration.

Option #1: Re-use the old local mail folders created using Netscape 4.7x. In addition to saving disk space this allows one to switch back and forth between 4.7x mailer and 7.0 mailer. This is the default option.

NOTE: There is a possibility of local mail folder data corruption if Netscape 4.7x and Netscape 7.0 mailers are run at the same time using the same shared local mail folders.

Option #2: Default. Keep the local mail folders separate from Netscape 4.7x and 7.0 to allow simultaneous use of Netscape 4.7x and Netscape 7.0 mailers. At the expense of extra disk space and fragmenting the local mail folder, this option ensures that you never lose any data stored in local mail folder.

The above choice is given to first time users of Netscape 7.0 who are migrating from Netscape 4.7x. System administrators and Enterprise administrators can make this decision for their wider user base. They can change the default settings for their users and choose to allow them an ability to override the default (or deny override) using the following preference settings.


To set the choice to option #1 and disallow override ability to your users, edit the file <N7installdir>/defaults/pref/mailnews.js


To set the choice to option #1 but allow override to users, edit the file <N7installdir>/defaults/pref/mailnews.js