Assignment 1 - Build the Fox
Hardware & Software
Processor: Intel Centrino Duo 1.66mhz
Ram: 1 Gigabyte
Operating System: Windows XP SP2
Development Tools: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional, Cygwin, GNU Make 3.80
Initial Steps
Did the Windows Prerequisities
- Install Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional
- Install Cygwin
- Install Moztools
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Windows_Build_Prerequisites
Tutorials
I went over a few build tutorials to get an idea of what is going to happen. I used the following links:
http://cs.senecac.on.ca/~david.humphrey/writing/firefox-win32-build.html
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/VC8_Build_Instructions
After getting an idea of the basic process I setup my environment and downloaded the source according to the tutorials.
My setup is as follows:
- C:\proj
- C:\proj\moztools
- C:\cygwin
Add to the Environment Variables %MOZ_TOOLS% = C:\proj\moztools;
I don't like putting libraries or applications in the root directory of C:\, but Cygwin won't work with spaces in the path. I tried to use C:\Program Files\Cygwin, but that failed so I reinstalled it to the root.
filename: cygwin.bat
set HOME=C:\home set VCVARS=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat set MOZ_TOOLS=C:\proj\moztools set CYGWINBASE=C:\cygwin set CYGWIN=nodosfilewarning set PATH=%CYGWINBASE%\bin;%PATH% call "%VCVARS%" set PATH=%PATH%;%MOZ_TOOLS%\bin rem MS-SDK; MSVC; Cygwin; Windows; glib/libIDL; Moztools rem --- Typically the last thing the script does is launch a cygwin shell rem --- watch for your ~/.profile and /etc/profile which may overwrite your carefully setup PATH! bash --login -i
filename: buildsetup.bat
@echo off rem --- CVS Setup SET CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot SET CVS_RSH=ssh rem --- Setup the paths to the moztools build libraries set MOZ_TOOLS=C:\proj\moztools set GLIB_PREFIX=%MOZ_TOOLS% set LIBIDL_PREFIX=%MOZ_TOOLS% rem --- Scrub these variables first SET INCLUDE= SET LIB= SET PATH=C:\;C:\windows\system32;C:\windows\system32\wbem rem --- Prepend cygwin SET PATH=C:\cygwin\bin;%PATH% rem --- Setup VC8 compiler environment vars CALL "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86 rem --- Add glib/libidl to build environment SET PATH=%PATH%;%GLIB_PREFIX%;%GLIB_PREFIX%\bin SET INCLUDE=%GLIB_PREFIX%\include;%INCLUDE% SET LIB=%GLIB_PREFIX%\lib;%LIB% rem --- moztools comes last after glib/libIDL SET PATH=%PATH%;%MOZ_TOOLS%\bin
Open a command prompt, go to the project directory (c:\proj) and run buildsetup.bat.
Download the source
In project directory:
cvs login cvs co mozilla/browser/config mozilla/client.mk
Create the file .mozconfig in proj\mozilla with the following:
filename: .mozconfig
# Building Firefox Trunk with Debugging . $topsrcdir/browser/config/mozconfig # Put all obj files in one place, not in src tree mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/firefox-objdir ac_add_options --disable-static ac_add_options --enable-shared # Debug Build Setup Options ac_add_options --disable-optimize ac_add_options --enable-debug # I'm using Canvas for my work ac_add_options --enable-canvas ac_add_options --disable-installer
Checkout and Build it
make -f client.mk checkout make -f client.mk build
Run It
After the build is done. Go to: proj\mozilla\firefox-objdir\dist\bin and run firefox.exe.
Problems on the way
First problem I encountered was some configuration problems. I needed to modify them to use work with my environemnt. I remember changing .mozconfig, buildsetup.bat, and cygwin.bat to get this error to go away, but not sure which one actually fixed the issue:
This error occurred when I was using bash rather than cmd. I switched to cmd after my fascination with bash running on windows was over.
Second problem was the Make version. I used the cygwin version, but reading from Liz's problems I found I needed to install 3.80 rather than using 3.81. That cleared it up.
Third problem was after the build worked I ran the program but it would load my current installed version of firefox 1.5.0.7. I remember somebody talking about this on IRC, but I didn't pay attention. The important thing is somebody else had this issue which probably means my build worked. I tried running it as another user, right click Run As..., and a command prompt and window appeared, but I started to get lots of error prompts. This might have something to do with me changing make versions without removing the old objects. I was too lazy to start building again, so I kept hitting Ignore.
Finally Minefield came up.
My Build Screenshot
My Thoughts
I found building firefox from source had more problems than my previous experiences. I have built bsd kernels through a similar process and building binaries for *nix. Even thought I built firefox I am not happy with the errors I got. I don't have time tonight to keep building until I got it the way I liked. I found it interesting running *nix tools in Windows, but still prefer the real thing. Overall, it was a good experience. Running into problems teaches you more than you may want to, but it is valuable to have gone through it.