You've deleted  all the site  Definitions from the webtemp file. the
webtemp.xml files are not used to reference site templates  only site
definitions. Adding a Site template  only requires putting it in the
site template gallery  of the top  level site of the site collection.

The one exception is if you have publishing turned on. Then you may
have to go to the site Templates and layout pages link under the look
and feel column in the site settings page to make it available.

What if I want the site  template to be available across multiple site
collections?

The only way to make a site  template available in multiple site
collections is to add  it to the top  level site template  gallery of each
of the site collections. I'm pretty sure that the stsadm  -o addtemplate
-f templatefilename -title templateTitle command  will add the template
to ALL the top level site galleries. Then all you need to do is an
IISreset and it should be available everywhere.



If you want one copy  of a site provisioning document to use across the
whole Farm you need to learn how to create a custom  site definition.

You can use the following stsadm  command to make an STP available to all
Site Collections in the Farm (just like a Site Definition):

stsadm.exe -o addtemplate
-filename <template filename>
-title <template title>
[-description <template description>]

This does not work for List Templates.

Will it automatically make it available for any new site  collections
that I create after I run the stsadm  command? Or do I need to run
this every time I add  a new site collection?

You'll need to run it each time you add  a new site  collection.

The template  is
available in new site  collections. You do NOT need to run the STSADM
command line each time you create a new site collection. Sorry for the
misinformation.

I think the technical term is "the template  gallery in the sky" ;

Actually, I think the real technical term is 'OOOPPPsssss'.

Right, what a blast from the past! That's exactly what I used to call
it; guess it still applies.

The AddTemplate operation makes the Site Template (STP) available to all
Site Collections in the Farm, just like a Site Definition. So, it should
be visible under the Custom tab for Site Collections, even new ones. I
don't think there is any way to move it under some other tab, these will
always be under the Custom tab.

Okay, so I saved  my site  as a site template  and used stsadm  to upload
it the top  gallery. I create a new site collection and selected my
new site template and they site was created successfully. However,
when I go to the new site it says 'File not found'. Any idea why this
happening or how I can figure out what is going on?

I believe it relates to the original site  template. If anywhere in this
site template  you point to a URL that doesn't exist in the new location,
you will receive the "File not found" message. For example, if you have
an image URL that points to the TEMPLATE/IMAGES folder under the 12 hive
and that file  does not exist in the IMAGES folder, then you will receive
this message. Errors like this can occur when defining a site template in
development and deploying it to production.

This can also happen with references to images in a Picture Library that are
referenced by URL in another page. The URL's generated (e.g.) by using the
Rich Text Editor are fully-qualified, not relative. Therefore, in the site
created from the template, they are still pointing to the original
template-generating site.

IMO, one really should have a choice of absolute or relative URL's when
linking in the Rich Text Editor.