Distribution of CD copies of OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org allows you to make copies for distribution to friends, colleagues, or others. All you need is a CD burner.

To make a copy (please see below for more information):

Quick Start instructions.

Many of the instructions are links. Click for more detailed instructions.

Join the CD-ROM Distributors mailing list so that you will know ifwe make a new 'official' version so that you will not be distributing old versions.
Download the "ISO" image of the CD from <mirror>/openoffice.org/contrib/iso/<version>/<language>
Burn the ISO image to a CD.
Install it to test that it worked.
Print copies of the CD labels -- add an insert for the Jewel case or DVD case This zip file contains some documents that make a simple, standard label for the CD and jewel box in English.
Make copies for people who need them.

Detailed Instructions.

Join the CD-ROM Distributors mailing list so that you will know if we make a new 'official' version.

Simply send a completely empty email to this subscription address (Click here to send it).

Every once in awhile we will have a new features or bug fixes ina new release. When fully tested it is called a "Stable Release"meaning it is ready for users, as opposed to various test releases.

You will not get much email from this list, just a warning or two when a new stable release is expected, and a notice when it is available to be picked up so that the old release should not, generally, be used any more.

Download the "ISO" image of the CD. (What is an ISO?)
Burn the ISO image to a CD.

As we said, "Almost all CD burning software will let you burn an ISO image to a CD." This step should not be a problem.

Different CD burning software has different commands. Please see a local tech person if you have difficulty burning an ISO to a CD.
Install it to test that it worked.

You should install your newly burned CD to make sure that the CD works correctly.

OpenOffice.Org correctly upgrades in place so you do not have to be concerned about uninstalling previous releases.

Print copies of the CD labels -- This zip file contains some documents to make a simple, standard label for the CD and jewel box in English.

Some things to remember.

If you distribute OpenOffice.org please be sure that people can look at the box and know what to do with the CD. You may wish to print fuller instructions.

At the very least:

Identify OpenOffice.org and the stable release number.
Tell people to read file README.TXT or README.HTML.

We provide a simple, sample CD label and jewel box insert.

Make copies for people who need them.

Your CD burner probably makes CD copies easily. All 'best practices' are needed for making a good CD copy among which are certainly.

Do not burn at too high a burn rate.
Do not do many other things on the computer that is burning
Verify the burn result if your software allows you to.

What is an ISO?

An 'ISO' image is all the files for a CD in one big file. You may think of it as being like a ZIP archive with lots of files in one file.

Almost all CD burning software will let you bur an ISO image to a CD. After you do this, all the files and directories are available on the CD just as with other means of making a CD.

Note: we recommend using CD-R media, the ones that cannot he re-written to. Not only are these cheaper but also they prevent any problems with people changing files later on.

If you are familiar with signatures there are MD5 signatures for checking your ISO download, usually in the same location as the ISO. We recommend checking the download if you have or can get a signature checking program.

For further and technical information about distributions please see the main Distribution Project page Please volunteer, if you have chance, to help us make the distribution better and easier.