You can build the GeoNetwork opensource installer yourself when needed. You may for instance wish to create a custom installer and/or a custom version of GeoNetwork opensource with a new GUI style etc...

The following steps explain howto create a GeoNetwork opensource installer:

Prerequisites:
- A working Java Developer Kit J2SDK1.4 (see http://java.sun.com)
- A working Apache Ant Java based build tool (see http://ant.apache.org) or another Java IDE capable of running Ant build scripts, e.g. Eclipse.

• Get the GeoNetwork opensource code from the sourceforge CVS (Concurrent Versioning System) into your workspace. For instructions on how to do this see the instructions at https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=72096
  Use a simple directory structure like e.g. 

• Run the build script from a commandline window:
  

This should build the project and generate an installer file located in the ..\geonetwork_2 folder, named geonetwork-2.0.0-install.jar (version number may differ)

After installation and startup of the system, you should be able to access GeoNetwork opensource from your browser at http://localhost:8080/geonetwork (again, location may differ on how you installed/ configured your webserver).

Installation instructions can be found here.