setbrowserdefaults.sh sets the defaults for the three web browsers I usually include with an OS X deployment. This will set up Firefox, Chrome and Safari to roughly the same defaults each, using the provided homepage variable. These defaults will also apply to any existing users. WARNING: THIS SCRIPT DELETES ANY EXISTING USER PREFS FOR EACH BROW…

setbrowserdefaults.sh

#!/bin/sh
#Change BROWSER_HOMEPAGE to whatever you need, everything else will work as is.
BROWSER_HOMEPAGE="http://www.google.com/"

## BEGIN FIREFOX
if [ -d "/Applications/Firefox.app" ]
then
    #CLear out any imposters, accept no substitutes!
	rm -f /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/defaults/pref/local-settings.js
	rm -f /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla.cfg
	
	#firefox prefs - system wide defaults are set inside the app in /Applications/, obviously make sure Firefox is being/has been installed before this script runs.
	echo "//DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE
	pref(\"general.config.obscure_value\",0);
	pref(\"general.config.filename\",\"mozilla.cfg\");" > /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/defaults/pref/local-settings.js
	chown root:staff /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/defaults/pref/local-settings.js
	chmod 744 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/defaults/pref/local-settings.js

	echo "//DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE
	pref(\"browser.startup.homepage\",\""$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"\");
	pref(\"browser.startup.homepage_reset\",\""$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"\");
	pref(\"browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser\",false);
	pref(\"browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone\",\"ignore\");
	lockPref(\"network.proxy.type\",5);
    pref(\"browser.rights.3.shown\",true);
	lockPref(\"browser.search.suggest.enabled\",false);" > /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla.cfg
	chown root:staff /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla.cfg
	chmod 744 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla.cfg
	
cat << EOF > /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/browser/override.ini
[XRE]
EnableProfileMigrator=false
EOF

chown root:staff /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/browser/override.ini
chmod 744 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/browser/override.ini
else
	echo "Firefox not found, no settings to change."
fi

## END FIREFOX

## BEGIN CHROME
if [ -d "/Library/Google" ]
then
	echo "Google Library Folder Exists!"
else
	mkdir /Library/Google/
	chmod -R 755 /Library/Google/
	chown -R root:wheel /Library/Google/
fi

#Clear out any imposters, accept no substitutes!
rm -f /Library/Google/Google\ Chrome\ Master\ Preferences

cat << EOF > /Library/Google/Google\ Chrome\ Master\ Preferences
{
  "homepage" : "$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE",
  "homepage_is_newtabpage" : false,
  "browser" : {
    "show_home_button" : true,
    "check_default_browser" : false
  },
  "bookmark_bar" : {
    "show_on_all_tabs" : true
  },
  "distribution" : {
    "show_welcome_page" : false,
    "skip_first_run_ui" : true,
    "import_history" : false,
    "import_bookmarks" : false,
    "import_home_page" : false,
    "import_search_engine" : false
  },
  "sync_promo" : {
    "user_skipped" : true
  },
  "first_run_tabs" : [
    "$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"
  ]
}
EOF

chmod 744 /Library/Google/Google\ Chrome\ Master\ Preferences
chown root:staff /Library/Google/Google\ Chrome\ Master\ Preferences

## END CHROME

## START SAFARI

# Homepage url
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari HomePage "$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari HomePage "$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"

# Disable Welcome Animation for first run, get straight down to business
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari LastDisplayedWelcomePageVersionString "6.0.5"
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari LastDisplayedWelcomePageVersionString "6.0.5"

# Make new tabs and new windows open the homepage
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NewTabBehavior -integer 0
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NewWindowBehavior -integer 0
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NewTabBehavior -integer 0
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NewWindowBehavior -integer 0

# New Session every time Safari is opened
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool FALSE
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool FALSE

defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillFromAddressBook -bool NO
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillMiscellaneousForms -bool NO
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillPasswords -bool NO

defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillFromAddressBook -bool NO
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillMiscellaneousForms -bool NO
defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari AutoFillPasswords -bool NO

## END SAFARI

## CLEAN UP ANY PREFS FOR EXISTING USERS, SAFARI PREFS CAN BE SET, BUT CHROME AND FIREFOX ARE TOO COMPLEX, SO JUST DELETE THEIR PROFILE DIRECTORIES.
## NEEDLESS TO SAY, USERS SHOULD BACK UP THEIR BOOKMARKS BEFORE RUNNING THIS SCRIPT.
## THIS SCRIPT WORKS FOR ALL USERS ON THE SYSTEM IN THE DSLOCAL DATABASE

_DS_USERS_PATH="/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/"
if [ -e "${_DS_USERS_PATH}" ]
then
  cd "${_DS_USERS_PATH}"
  for EXTRA_USER in *.plist
  do 
    if [ ${EXTRA_USER:0:1} != "_" ]
    then 
      EXTRA_USER_RECORD=`echo ${EXTRA_USER} | sed s/.plist//`
      EXTRA_USER_HOME=`defaults read "${_DS_USERS_PATH}/${EXTRA_USER_RECORD}" home | awk -F\" '{ print $2 }' | tr -d "\n"` 
	  EXTRA_USER_UID=`defaults read "${_DS_USERS_PATH}/${EXTRA_USER_RECORD}" uid | awk -F" " '{ sub(/\(/,"",$1);sub(/\)/,"",$1); print $1 }' | tr -d "\n"`
      EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH="${EXTRA_USER_HOME}/Library/Preferences"
	  EXTRA_USER_APPSUPPORT_PATH="${EXTRA_USER_HOME}/Library/Application\ Support"
      if [ -d "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}" ]
      then
        rm -Rf "${EXTRA_USER_APPSUPPORT_PATH}"/Firefox/
        rm -Rf "${EXTRA_USER_APPSUPPORT_PATH}"/Google/
		defaults write "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"/com.apple.Safari HomePage "$BROWSER_HOMEPAGE"
		defaults write "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"/com.apple.Safari LastDisplayedWelcomePageVersionString "6.0.5"
		defaults write "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"/com.apple.Safari NewTabBehavior -integer 0
		defaults write "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"/com.apple.Safari NewWindowBehavior -integer 0
		defaults write "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"/com.apple.Safari NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool FALSE
		/usr/sbin/chown -R ${EXTRA_USER_UID}:staff "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"
		/bin/chmod -R 700 "${EXTRA_USER_PREFS_PATH}"
      fi
    fi
  done
fi