Portable Gaim Launcher 1.1.4
============================
Written by John T. Haller

Website: http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/portable_gaim/


ABOUT PORTABLE GAIM
===================
The Portable Gaim Launcher allows you to run Gaim from a removable drive whose letter changes as you move it to another computer.  The program can be entirely self-contained on the drive and then used on any Windows computer.


LICENSE
=======
This code is released under the GPL.  The full code is included with this package as PortableGaim.nsi.


INSTALLATION / DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
==================================
By default, the program expects one of 5 directory structures:

-\ <--- Directory with PortableGaim.exe
  +\gaim\
  +\gtk\bin\
  +\settings\
  +\userprofile\ (optional)

OR

-\ <--- Directory with PortableGaim.exe
  +\PortableGaim\
    +\gaim\
    +\gtk\bin\
    +\settings\
    +\userprofile\ (optional)
OR

-\ <--- Directory with PortableGaim.exe
  +\PortableApps\
    +\PortableGaim\
      +\gaim\
      +\gtk\bin\
      +\settings\
      +\userprofile\ (optional)
OR

-\ <--- Directory with PortableGaim.exe (PortableApps, for instance)
  +\Apps\
    +\PortableGaim\
      +\gaim\
      +\gtk\bin\
  +\Data\
    +\PortableGaim\
      +\settings\
      +\userprofile\ (optional)

OR

-\ <--- Directory with PortableGaim.exe (PortableApps, for instance)
  +\Apps\
    +\PortableGaim\
      +\gaim\
    +\gtk\bin\
  +\Data\
    +\UserProfile\
    +\PortableGaim\
      +\settings\

Note: In the last scenario, either UserProfile or the GTK directory or both may be shared with other applications.

It can be used in other directory configurations by including the PortableGaim.ini file in the same directory as PortableGaim.exe and configuring it as details in the INI file section below.  The INI file may also be placed in a subdirectory of the directory containing PortableGaim.exe called PortableGaim  or 2 directories deep in PortableApps\PortableGaim or Data\PortableGaim.  All paths in the INI should remain relative to the EXE and not the INI.


PORTABLEGAIM.INI CONFIGURATION
==============================
The Portable Gaim Launcher will look for an ini file called PortableGaim.ini within its directory.  If you are happy with the default options, it is not necessary, though.  The INI file is formatted as follows:

[PortableGaim]
GaimDirectory=gaim
GTKDirectory=gtk\bin
SettingsDirectort=settings
UserProfileDirectory=userprofile
AdditionalParameters=
WaitForGaim=false
GaimExecutable=gaim.exe
DisableSplashScreen=false

The GaimDirectory, GTKDirectory, SettingsDirectory and UserProfileDirectory entries should be set to the *relative* path to the appropriate directories from the current directory.  All must be a subdirectory (or multiple subdirectories) of the directory containing PortableGaim.exe.  The default entries for these are described in the installation section above. If a GTK path is not found, it is ignored and assumed to be within the gaim directory.

The AdditionalParameters entry allows you to pass additional commandline parameter entries to gaim.exe.  Whatever you enter here will be appended to the call to gaim.exe.

The WaitForGaim entry allows you to set the Portable Gaim Launcher to wait for Gaim to close before it closes.  This option is mainly of use when PortableGaim.exe is called by another program that awaits it's conclusion to perform a task.

The GaimExecutable entry allows you to set the Portable Gaim Launcher to use an alternate EXE call to launch Gaim.  This is helpful if you are using a machine that is set to deny gaim.exe from running.  You'll need to rename the gaim.exe file and then enter the name you gave it on the gaimexecutable= line of the INI.

The DisableSplashScreen entry allows you to disable the splash screen by setting it to true (lowercase).


PROGRAM HISTORY / ABOUT THE AUTHORS
===================================
This launcher contains elements from multiple sources.  It began as a batch file launcher written by myself (John T. Haller) and posted to the mozillaZine.org thread about running Firefox from a USB key.  tracon later released a launcher called fflaunch which I enhanced and re-released as Portable Firefox.  mai9 later improved on fflaunch's techniques and released it as Free The Fox.  Multiple suggestions back and forth as well as improvements from mai9, myself and others lead to the launcher we have today.  This most recent version adds some of my methods for allowing the code to be run from anywhere on first launch (as opposed to a specific directory), pass in commandline options, run without an ini file.


KNOWN ISSUES
============
On some computers, apparently running Windows XP Home Edition, multiple directories may be created within the userprofile directory on the portable drive in some instances.  This directory is not used by default.