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This FAQ is meant to provide a place for you to capture knowledge as you begin working on Mozilla developmentwith Open Source. When someone answers a question for you, consider adding it below, and feel free to update previous entries. Create new topic headings as necessary.
==Building Firefox==
# '''Where can I get information on building Firefox or other Mozilla products?'''
#: Start with the documentation on [http://developer.mozilla.org MDC]: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Build_Documentation.
#: In terminal 2:
#: cvs -d :pserver:anonymous:anonymous@localhost:/cvsroot co mozilla/client.mk
# '''What's the best way to run a build so it doesn't mess-up my default install/profile?'''
#: Use the '''-no-remote''' and '''-profile''' command line switches. The '''-no-remote''' switch will allow multiple versions of the browser to run at the same time (i.e., otherwise it will open another window for your currently running instance). The '''-profile''' switch allows you to specify a path to a profile (e.g., a directory). This profile directory doesn't need to exist--it will create it if it is not there:<br/><br/><code>$ mozilla/''objdir''/dist/bin/firefox.exe -no-remote -profile some/path/testing</code>
# '''When I run my new build on Windows, I get a lot of assertion pop-ups. How can I stop this?'''
#: Before you run your build at the command line, do this (which will send the assertion messages to the console instead):<br/><br/><code>$ export XPCOM_DEBUG_BREAK=warn</code>
# '''What are some ways I can make my build go faster?'''
#: See [[Improving Build Times]]
== Mozilla Build System ==
1. '''How do a see what macros are being expanded in order to understand my compiler error (a.k.a., how do I create a preprocessed version of a C/C++ file)?
$ cd $OBJDIR/some/directory
$ make nsMyFilename.i
2. '''How do I generate Doxygen documentation for Mozilla?'''
$ cd $OBJDIR
$ make documentation
3. '''Hw do I see the final value of a makefile variable?'''
$ cd $OBJDIR/some/directory
$ make echo-variable-EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS
== IRC ==
# '''Where can I get general info about using IRC?'''
#: See the [[Irc|IRC]] page on this wiki.
# '''Where can I find a comprehensive list of IRC clients?'''
#: Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients for a list of IRC clients on various platforms. Two popular choices are [http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla/ Chatzilla] and [http://www.irssi.org/ irssi].
# '''Where can I ask for help on IRC?'''
#: Use the '''#seneca''', '''#firefox''', '''#build''' or '''#developers''' channels on irc://irc.mozilla.org(in that order).
# '''What is the best way to share long error messages or other text that is too big to copy/paste into IRC?'''
#: Use a pastebin at http://pastebin.ca/ or http://pastebin.mozilla.org/ to copy/paste your output. Then paste the resulting URL into IRC.
#: [http://f0rked.com/articles/irssidoc IRSSI Documentation and Resources]
# '''What do all these acronyms stand for?'''
#: Look them up on the [http://www.nebulavalinor.sorcery.net/glossary/ Glossary of IRC terminology]# '''I can't seem to join #seneca, how do I register my nick?'''#: Take a look at [http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#registering this] discussion of IRC nick registration for a list of instructions.
==SVN==
# '''What does MDC or devmo refer tois SVN?'''#: Subversion (or SVN for short) is a revision control system that is used to track changes to a project's file repository. SVN tracks changes to the repository made by each project collaborator. This allows for analyzing SVN tracks changes and can be used to analyze differences, undoing and undo changes etc. at a later time if needed. This allows for greater collaboration and speed , while minimizing (though never completely elimintating) risks associated with duplication and overwriting each others work. Project contents need not be limited to source code files. # '''Where can I find an SVN tutorial?'''#:* [[Subversion_tutorial|Here]]#:* [[SVN|SVN tutorialsat a glance]]# '''More complete documentation?'''#: Detailed SVN getting started tutorials, how to guides and FAQ's other help information can be found in the [http://svnbook.red-bean.com/ free official online book] by [http://www.oreilly.com/ O'Reilly Media.]
# '''Where can I find an SVN Client?
#: Tortoise View a [http://subversion.tigris.org/links.html#clients list of SVN is a Windows based client implemented as a shell clients] available for Windows Explorervarious platforms and development environments. # <b>SVN at a glance:</b> [[SVN]]==Terminology=Common Commands===* To access the svn repository for your project, use the following command to 'check out' your project. <pre>svn checkout svn://cdot.senecac.on.ca/<yourprojecthere>/</pre>* Once you have your repository sandbox, change directories into the project folder.* To add a file to your svn repository, use the following command:<pre>svn add <filename></pre>* To remove a file from your svn repository, type:<pre>svn remove <filename></pre>* To update the repository with your latest changes to the repository, type:<pre>svn commit -m "type a message here that explains what you're committing"</pre>* To update the sandbox located on your local machine to the same version on the repository, type:<pre>svn update</pre>*To revert/undo file into its pre-modified state (More on [[SVN#svn_revert|svn revert]]):<pre>$ svn revert <filename></pre>* To view all the changes (commits) made on a svn repository, type:<pre>svn log</pre>:It is very important that you type useful messages when committing code.* How do i resolve a conflicted file? (To better understand the use of this command, check out: [[SVN#Resolve_Conflicts_.28Merging_Others.27_Changes.29 | Resolve Conflicts (Merging Others' Changes)]])<pre>svn resolved <filename></pre>* Here is how to create a patch using svn. Everything in square brackets is optional. If you provide no additional arguements, then a diff file would be made of all the changes you have done since the last commit/update.<pre> svn diff [-r from[:to]] [filename|directory] > mypatch.patch</pre>
*'''AMO'''
*: [https://addons.mozilla.org/ addons.mozilla.org]
*'''MDC or devmo'''
*: [http://developer.mozilla.org Mozilla Developer Center]
*'''MoCo'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.com/ Mozilla Corporation]
*'''NSPR'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/nspr/ Netscape Portable Runtime] <br>Additional Resources : [[NSPR| DPS909]]
*'''NSS'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/ Network Security Services]
*'''RDF'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.org/rdf/doc/ Resource Description Framework] <br> Additional Resources : [[XUL| DPS909]] [http://www.w3.org/RDF/ W3C]
*'''XPCOM'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xpcom/ Cross Platform Component Object Model] <br> Additional Resources : [[XPCOM| DPS909]]
*'''XUL'''
*: [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xul/ XML User interface Language] <br> Additional Resources : [[XUL| DPS909]]
==VMWare==
# '''Is there a way to create your own virtual machines (appliances) using only the VMWare Player?'''
#: The easiest method to create VM appliances is using VM Server or Workstation edition. However, Mike Shaver was able to locate a [http://hackaday.com/2005/10/24/how-to-vmware-player-modification hack for this]. There is even a [http://rhysgoodwin.orcon.net.nz/vmxwizard/ free third party wizard applicaton] that can help you create your on VM's to run on the VM Player.
==Other==
# '''How do I find out who owns what module in the Mozilla Tree?'''
#: Visit: [http://www.mozilla.org/owners.html http://www.mozilla.org/owners.html]
[[Category:Mozilla for beginners]]
