IE coming to a Linux near you

Well first up HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone. Goodbye 2007, helooo 2008 :D. Ok now back to blogging...

If you're into web development AND you're on a Linux machine, testing your site to make sure it looks and plays well with IE is a definite must. Well thanks to the folks at IEs 4 Linux, we can now get it working on Linux without having to boot up windows. This script can install IE5, IE5.5 or IE6. Below are the steps to get it working :-

• You must install wine and cabextract first.
• sudo apt-get install wine cabextract
  
• Download ies4linux here.
• Untar it in a folder of your choice and switch to that directory.
  
• Install it using "./ies4linux --no-gui" (if you're installing on a remote machine).
• Watch it download and install the necessary stuff from Microsoft's website and Flash from Adobe.
• After you're done, you can execute it by typing "ie6" from the command line or on the link from your desktop.
• Test your site on IE to see how it looks ;)
  

It is also possible to install IE7 using the method described here. Google has been kind enough create a stand alone installer which can be obtained from this link for those who just wish to obtain IE7. I'm listing the quick steps to get IE7 working here. For a more comprehensive explanation, check out the link above.

• Switch to your local ies4linux directory.
• cd ~/.ies4linux
  
• Copy your existing IE6 folder to IE7
• cp -r ie6 ie7
  
• Replace all references of ie7 to ie7
• sed ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie6 -e 's/ie6/ie7/g' > ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7
  
• Make the new ie7 script executable
• chmod +x ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7
  
• switch to the directory your downloaded IE7 to.
• use cabextract to extract the files needed
• cabextract IE7Setup_G.exe
  
• now use cabextract on the IE7 setup actual
• cabextract IE7-Setup.exe
  
• now run this command

• for i in wininet iertutil shlwapi urlmon jscript vbscript \
     ieframe mshtml mshtmled mshtmler advpack
        do
           chmod +x $i.dll
           cp $i.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system/$i.dll
     done

• chmod +x inetcpl.cpl

• cp inetcpl.cpl ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system/

• These 2 files are needed for IE7 to work
• normaliz.dll = http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?normaliz
• inetcplc.dll = http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/I/inetcplc.dll/6.00.2800.11068/download.html
• Copy the 2 files to your IE7 folder

• cp normaliz.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system

• cp inetcplc.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system

• Make sure WINE is using Windows XP as its container otherwise the there will be view pane corruption

• WINEPREFIX=~/.ies4linux/ie7 winecfg

• Lastly create a shortcut to IE7

• ln -s ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7 ~/bin/ie7

Happy browsing :D