Internet Explorer for Unix Readme Online
README for the Internet Explorer 4.0
Release version for Solaris UNIX
February 23, 1998

Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1997-1998

This document provides the information you need to get started and information to supplement the product documentation.

You can look up additional Knowledge Base articles for this product on http://support.microsoft.com. To do so, specify Internet Explorer 4.0 in field one and topic information in field two.

CONTENTS

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
SETUP
COMMON DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT INTEGRATION
USER AGENT
AN ALTERNATE WAY TO ORGANIZE FAVORITES
KNOWN ISSUES

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

To run the released version of Internet Explorer 4.0 for UNIX, your system must meet the following minimum requirements:

  • A Sparcstation 2 or greater
  • English Solaris 2.5 and above
  • 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended)
  • 65 MB of hard-disk space to perform the installation

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SETUP

Downloading Internet Explorer 4.0

You can download the file ie4setup from the following FTP site:

The product is also available at the following HTTP site: The file ie4setup is a self-extracting executable that contains all the files you will need. If you ftp this file, be sure to use binary transfer mode.

Installing Internet Explorer 4.0

Installing to the default directory, /usr/local/microsoft, may require root access.

  1. If you had the Preview 1 version installed previously you must remove the current installation directory, for example 'rm -r /usr/local/microsoft'.
  2. Change directory to where you downloaded the file ie4setup; 'cd '.
  3. Make the downloaded file executable; 'chmod +x ie4setup'.
  4. Run the executable; './ie4setup'.
  5. When Setup prompts you for an installation directory, you can accept the default directory or type in a new directory path.
To run Internet Explorer 4.0:
    After Internet Explorer 4.0 is installed, you can start the browser by running "/bin/iexplorer".

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 4.0

You must remove the current installation directory, for example, 'rm -r /usr/local/microsoft'.

If you implemented CDE integration as explained below, you should remove it by deleting the "IE4.dt" file from the system or user directory.

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COMMON DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT INTEGRATION

If you run Internet Explorer within a CDE session, it will adopt the CDE color scheme unless overridden with explicit color settings.

If you install Internet Explorer on Solaris 2.6, you will be asked whether you wish to install CDE integration. If you answer yes, a file called "IE4.dt" will be added to the system. If you are user "root", the file is added to the directory /etc/dt/appconfig/types/C, and will affect all users on the system. Otherwise, the file will be added to the directory ~/.dt/types, and will affect only you.

The file "IE4.dt" is in the "ie4" subdirectory of the installation, and can be copied to other users' ~/.dt/types directory.

If you use CDE integration, then the generic web browser icon will launch Internet Explorer, and the default action for an HTML file will be to launch Internet Explorer and open the file.

CDE integration can be removed by simply deleting the "IE4.dt" file from the system or user directories.

There is a set of Internet Explorer icons for use with CDE, in the ie4/ie4icons subdirectory of the installation. They can be used by administrators who want to place the Internet Explorer logo on the desktop.

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USER AGENT

The User Agent String for Internet Explorer is static except for the third field which depends on the Operating System and the processor you are using.

Here are some common configurations and the user agent strings generated by Internet Explorer on these platforms: 

   Sparc 5, Solaris 2.5.1:
      Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; SunOS 5.5.1 sun4m; X11)

   Any Ultra, Solaris 2.5.1:
      Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; SunOS 5.5.1 sun4u; X11)

   Any Ultra, Solaris 2.6:
      Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; SunOS 5.6 sun4u; X11)

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AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO ORGANIZE FAVORITES

In addition to being able to organize favorites through the Organize Favorites item on the Favorites menu, you can also manipulate your favorites through the file system. Your favorites are organized and maintained in the directory, ~/.microsoft/Favorites. You should shut down Internet Explorer to make changes to this directory. The changes you make will be reflected in your Favorites menu when you restart Internet Explorer.

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KNOWN ISSUES

Solaris Compatibility

Internet Explorer is not supported on Solaris 2.4 and below.

To run Internet Explorer on Solaris 2.5 a patch is required. Use of any or all of these patches is subject to any license terms that may accompany the patch. Patch 103093-17 corrects a multithreading issue.

    NOTE:Additional patches from Sun Microsystems, Inc., may be necessary to get full functionality from this patch. See the patch's README for more details.

    A link to download this patch is available from the following page: http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/us/pubpatchpage.pl

    If that link doesn't work, try the FREE PATCHES link off of: http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/

    You can download either the patch itself at: ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/103093-17.tar.Z

    There is also a cluster of recommended patches that will install in a single step which includes 103093-17: ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/2.5_Recommended.tar.Z

    Note that this patch number may become 103093-18 or higher in the future as Sun Microsystems, Inc., upgrades it.

If you install Internet Explorer on a host machine, and use NFS to mount the installation on another machine using a different pathname, then you will not be able to execute Internet Explorer on the second machine. Similarly, if you move the installation directory to a different pathname, you will not be able to execute Internet Explorer. In both cases you will receive the following error message:
    Support for SunOS 2.6 has not been installed on this system.

    The message may read "SunOS 2.5" or "SunOS 2.5.1" as appropriate. To fix the NFS problem:

    • Make a copy of /bin/iexplorer on the second machine, in local disk storage. For example, /usr/local/bin/iexplorer may be an appropriate filename if you are "root".
    • Edit the copy (it's a shell script) and change line 3 to reflect the full pathname of the mount point. For example, if you mounted the installation directory under the name /net/myhost/local/ms, then line 3 will read:
        MSFT_HOME=/net/myhost/local/ms/
        (note the trailing '/' character).
    • Make sure the edited copy has execute permission.
    • Make sure that users on that machine always use the edited copy.
    To fix the "moved directory" problem, simply edit the file bin/iexplorer as described above.

    You may use alternative approaches, so long as the shell variable MSFT_HOME gets the appropriate value.

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Internet Explorer User Interface Issues

  • Experienced users of X11 can set color preferences using X resources with the class name "Iexplorer".

  • When highlighting text in the browser window, Internet Explorer will automatically highlight whole words, unless the cursor is backed up over a word, in which case single character units can be highlighted.

  • If you have more than one invocation of Internet Explorer running and one of the browser windows has a modal dialog open, the menu bars on all other Internet Explorer windows are disabled.

  • When not running within a CDE session, Internet Explorer obtains its color specifications using standard X mechanisms with fallback values obtained from the file /ie4/Iexplorer. This is an X resource file and contains instructions that will help the system administrator or individual user perform limited color and font customization. Note: You may use the command line options to set the foreground and background colors - for example, "iexplorer -bg black -fg white" would be useful on a monochrome display.

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Miscellaneous Issues

  • If you delete the directory TempInternetFiles while the browser is running, the browser may hang.

  • HTML pages that omit file extensions for image references are not rendered correctly.

  • The ability to determine how much temporary file space the browser is allowed to use is not working in this version of the product. After you change this setting, it reverts to the default setting of 1% of the total drive space. You can, however, set the cache to clear on every exit of the browser so that no space is reserved for caching Internet Files between browser sessions.

  • Renaming a "Favorites" folder with a name that has more than the leading letter capitalized will result in the name being unchangeable through the browser. Although it can still be changed as described in the "AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO ORGANIZE FAVORITES" section above.

  • Internet Explorer may leave files in a temporary directory (/var/tmp). These files are not needed and can be safely deleted whenever Internet Explorer is not running.

  • If different people share a common user ID, network authentications made by one person may be available to others who are running simultaneous copies of the browser.

  • Form items and transparent GIFs do not print correctly.

  • Address auto-complete does not always work as expected for addresses with mixed case.

  • In the Mappings tab of the Internet Options Menu, the command line field cannot contain output redirection statements (e.g.: cat %1>/dev/audio).

  • In the Programs tab of the Internet Options Menu, the news command or script specified cannot be passed more than one argument.

  • Under some circumstances the mouse pointer may be displayed with a black background or completely black.

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Last Reviewed: Tuesday, February 13, 2001