(I posted some questions in this vein in netscape.devs-plugins earlier
today, but upon further examination, it looks to me like that
newsgroup is for Netscape 4.x questions, whereas I've got Netscape 6
questions. so I'm reposting here.)

I have a SmartUpdate installer which works in Netscape 4.x.  It
invokes an EXE which does the actual installation.

The general question is, how, if at all, can I make this SmartUpdate
installer work with Netscape 6?  Some specific questions and points
that I'd like to see clarified:

* Netscape 4.x recognizes a SmartUpdate JAR archive when you download a
file with the MIME type application/java-archive.  Netscape 6 doesn't.

* SmartUpdate JAR files are digitally signed, but apparently XPI files
are not.  If SmartUpdate isn't supported, how do I do a signed
installer for Netscape 6?

* If I simply repackage my JAR file as a XPI file, will the install.js
in it work in Netscape 6?  It use netscape.softupdate.VersionInfo and
netscape.softupdate.SoftwareUpdate objects as documented in the
Netscape 4.x documentation for creating installation packages.  A call
to netscape.softupdate.SoftwareUpdate.Execute is what runs the
installer EXE that's inside the JAR file.

* What's the "official" way in Netscape 6 of figuring out the Netscape
plugins directory (so my EXE can install the Netscape plugin in the
right place)?

* Has anybody written a document for people who had previously
developed SmartUpdate installers, explaining how SmartUpdate compares
to XPI and how to migrate from the former to the latter?

I have directed followups to this message to
netscape.public.mozilla.xpinstall.  I hope that's the right place even
though I'm not asking solely about XPI.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.



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