Firefox build instructions

Greg K Nicholson · December 10th, 2003, 5:17 pm

Excellent! :x-mas:

catchwreka · Post by **catchwreka** » December 10th, 2003, 6:42 pm

http://www.mozilla.org/build/win32.html wrote:Due to the nature of C++ compilers, libraries built with GCC will likely be incompatible with libraries built with MSVC. For example, XPCOM plugins will not work. This includes the Java plugin.

A question to people who compile with GCC, is the above statement still in effect?

nilson · Post by **nilson** » December 10th, 2003, 7:29 pm

Arctic · Post by **Arctic** » December 11th, 2003, 12:54 am

What have I done wrong this time?

<a href="http://btn.serveftp.net/btn21/buildcrash.txt">Here's the last lines before crash</a>

<a href="http://btn.serveftp.net/btn21/mozconfig.txt">...and here's my .mozconfig</a>

I'm using .NET 2003 to compile, and I successfully compiled it before, just doesn't work after I reinstalled everything

Help, anyone?

johngoodin · Post by **johngoodin** » December 12th, 2003, 9:41 am

I know this may be a stupid question but I thought I saw a FB download listed somewhere in the site as a 0.70/0.70.1 download.

Is where a outgoing only mailing list that notiflies then a new stable release of the Mozilla line of products is released?
I have a Bookmark to the download Page of FB that tells me then the page is updated. But any change prompts me that the content has been updated. Could a notify only mailing list menu be added to the curent release info page(s). So if tomorrow FB 0.72 comes out all one would have to do is check thier email... for a reminder...

dbunder · Post by **dbunder** » December 18th, 2003, 9:11 pm

i've had no problems compiling my own firebird builds (win32, 20031218) by using the build instructions at http://gemal.dk/mozilla/build.html. thanks for the very informative topic.

i'm running my own build right now and the user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q="); in user.js doesn't seem to work. did i miss building an extension or such? what could i do to reenable this? thanks for any help!

my .mozconfig is:
CC=gcc
CXX=g++
CPP=cpp
AS=as
LD=ld
LDFLAGS=-mwindows
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/../fbbuild
ac_add_options --disable-accessibility
ac_add_options --disable-activex
ac_add_options --disable-activex-scripting
ac_add_options --disable-composer
ac_add_options --disable-debug
ac_add_options --disable-ldap
ac_add_options --disable-mailnews
ac_add_options --disable-installer
ac_add_options --disable-tests
ac_add_options --enable-crypto
ac_add_options --enable-extensions=default,-inspector,-irc,venkman,-content-packs,-helpcookie,xml-rpc,xmlextras,typeaheadfind
ac_add_options --enable-optimize="-Os -march=i686 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops"
export MOZ_PHOENIX=1
mk_add_options MOZ_PHOENIX=1

-j

Old Persist · Post by **Old Persist** » December 19th, 2003, 3:23 am

Code: Select all

ac_add_options --enable-extensions=-cookie

Post by **djst** » December 19th, 2003, 7:33 am

Since Ben has written <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/build.html">build instructions</a>, maybe <a href="http://texturizer.net/firebird/build.html">my document</a> (well, Henrik Gemal's) is redundant?

Waldo · Post by **Waldo** » December 19th, 2003, 1:25 pm

djst wrote:Since Ben has written <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/build.html">build instructions</a>, maybe <a href="http://texturizer.net/firebird/build.html">my document</a> (well, Henrik Gemal's) is redundant?

No, it isn't. It assumes the builder already has experience compiling programs using all the requisite software. It's for an experienced developer who has built other programs already. It doesn't detail the software necessary to build in Linux, Windows, or other systems. The document serves to tell builders what sort of options are available when building; it does not help in actually learning how to build.

In contrast your (Henrik Gemal's) document is designed for non-programmers. Such people may have never programmed or compiled a program before in their life. They are unlikely to have the required software installed on their systems. Their only interest in building may be just to learn more about a browser they've used for a while but never really explored the work that went into making it. A link to Ben's page certainly wouldn't hurt, however; I would just make sure to clearly explain that it's for those who already have some experience with building Firebird.

Don't get rid of your (Henrik Gemal's) instructions. It's much more useful than Ben's document for most of your site's visitors.

nrthomas · Post by **nrthomas** » December 20th, 2003, 4:32 pm

djst:

The build instructions you're hosting are a great introduction for new players but I think there are a few bugs. Firstly, a number of people have had problems using the optimized mozconfig, getting errors in mozilla/js when linking libjs3250.dll.a. See <a href="http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=38302&highlight=">this</a> thread or search mozillazine for fdlibm for more information. I couldn't find anything in bugzilla when I made some simple queries.

Secondly, the second paragraph begins

The versions of Mozilla Firebird/Thunderbird that these instructions will build are debug versions.

But then both Firebird mozconfigs include <code>ac_add_options --disable-debug</code>. The thunderbird mozconfig does not have this line so it's the only one that actually is a debug. I think most people who are building do not really want debug builds, but either way it should be consistent.

Thirdly, the 3.7GB of required disk space is only accurate for debug builds. And also, the required disk space depends on the file system and cluster size of the partition being used. The <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/build/win32.html#ss2.1">mozilla win32 build instuctions</a> provide much better estimates for non-debug builds, but I've found that I typically need even less space. While I'm not building with mingw, a stipped down MS VS6 (only directories on the path), cygwin, source tree and two object directories comes in at about 1GB on a NTFS partition with 2KB cluster size.

Waldo · Post by **Waldo** » December 20th, 2003, 5:22 pm

CrazyFred wrote:
The versions of Mozilla Firebird/Thunderbird that these instructions will build are debug versions.

But then both Firebird mozconfigs include <code>ac_add_options --disable-debug</code>. The thunderbird mozconfig does not have this line so it's the only one that actually is a debug. I think most people who are building do not really want debug builds, but either way it should be consistent.

Okay, here's my thoughts WRT debug (which I hadn't noticed was in the instructions by default, as I've always used the options from about:buildconfig):

Most users aren't going to want debug builds, I think. Can you also give instructions on how to create the default .mozconfig for a platform? It should be relatively simple: just tell the reader to open a new window, navigate to about:buildconfig, and then use the options listed there. Of course, the actual instructions would be a little more complicated than that, but it shouldn't be hard to write something up.

Waldo · Post by **Waldo** » December 20th, 2003, 11:43 pm

All right, I have a problem with running a built Firebird. I can build correctly and completely, but for some reason when I try to execute the /home/waldo/FirebirdBuilt/dist/bin/MozillaFirebird file (I've set the correct MOZ_ variable so I don't poison my tree), I get the error "Couldn't find the program 'MozillaFirebird'" in a dialog box from Konqueror titled "Sorry - Konqueror". This has occurred as both root and waldo (tried both because I figured perhaps this build would try to appropriate the profile from my usual Firebird build, a build from mozilla.org - and some code changes in my tree would definitely make the profiles incompatible). Any ideas? 10 to 1 it's something simple to an experienced Linux user, but I'm far from one and can't figure out why this happens.

[edit]Yes, /home/waldo/FirebirdBuilt/dist/browser/app/MozillaFirebird does exist. The file I tried to execute above is a symlink to the browser/app file.[/edit]

LostInTheForest · December 28th, 2003, 11:56 am

Two little questions before I start downloading/building FB on my dual Celeron 333 box with Win2k:

- Is it possible to download the sources as tarball, and update that sources with cvs?
- What are the best .mozconfig options to compile on an i686 SMP system?

maxheadroom · Post by **maxheadroom** » December 28th, 2003, 12:08 pm

LostInTheForest wrote:- Is it possible to download the sources as tarball, and update that sources with cvs?

source is at ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/m ... ce.tar.bz2 . This does not contain the firebird or thunderbird directories. if you have a firebird mozconfig, "make -f client.mk checkout" will get the extra firebird directories for you.

Or you can download my source tarball for firebird and thunderbird, which contains everything you need to build firebird, thunderbird, or seamonkey. They're at http://matrix.netsoc.tcd.ie/~maxhead/mozilla-source (at least until the official tarballs contain firebird and thunderbird sources).

Post by **alanjstr** » December 31st, 2003, 6:42 pm

The official build instructions have been updated:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/build.html

Now, create a .mozconfig file in the mozilla/ directory, alongside client.mk, and fill it with the following:
Code: Select all
. $topsrcdir/browser/config/mozconfig
ac_add_options --disable-tests
browser/config/mozconfig provides the default configure options used for Firebird. Your mozconfig file should include this at the top, as shown above, then add additional options if desired.