Firefox-23.0.1

Introduction to Firefox

Firefox is a stand-alone browser based on the Mozilla codebase.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.4 platform.

Package Information

Additional Downloads

Firefox Dependencies

Required

alsa-lib-1.0.27.2, GTK+-2.24.20, Zip-3.0, and UnZip-6.0

Recommended

[Note]

Note

If you don't install recommended dependencies, then internal copies of those packages will be used. They might be tested to work, but they can be out of date or contain security holes.

Optional

cURL-7.32.0, dbus-glib-0.100.2, Doxygen-1.8.5, gst-plugins-base-0.10.36, Hunspell, libnotify-0.7.6, startup-notification-0.12, Wget-1.14, Wireless Tools-29 and Xulrunner-23.0.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/firefox

Installation of Firefox

There are two major methods for building Firefox. In the standard case, the entire suite of libraries is built and installed. In the other, most of the system is built using the procedures found in Xulrunner-23.0.1. This is advantageous if you are planning to build other related packages such as IcedTea-Web-1.4. With either build method, you need to run the main build procedure below with the appropriate options in the mozconfig file. Then use the appropriate install instructions depending on the chosen build method.

The configuration of Firefox is accomplished by creating a mozconfig file containing the desired configuration options. A default mozconfig is created below. To see the entire list of available configuration options (and an abbreviated description of each one), issue ./configure --help. You may also wish to review the entire file and uncomment any other desired options. Create the file by issuing the following command:

cat > mozconfig << "EOF"
# If you have a multicore machine, firefox will now use all the cores by
# default. Exceptionally, you can reduce the number of cores, e.g. to 1,
# by uncommenting the next line and setting a valid number of CPU cores.
#mk_add_options MOZ_MAKE_FLAGS="-j1"

# If you have installed DBus-Glib comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-dbus

# If you have installed wireless-tools comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-necko-wifi

# If you have installed libnotify comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-libnotify

# Uncomment these lines if you have installed optional dependencies:
# GStreamer is necessary for H.264 video playback in HTML5 Video Player
#ac_add_options --enable-gstreamer
#ac_add_options --enable-system-hunspell
#ac_add_options --enable-startup-notification

# Uncomment this line if you compiled Cairo with --enable-tee switch and want
# to use it instead of the bundled one:
#ac_add_options --enable-system-cairo

# If you have not installed Yasm then uncomment this line:
#ac_add_options --disable-webm

# If you have installed xulrunner uncomment the next two ac_add_options lines
# and check that the sdk will be set by running pkg-config in a subshell
# and has not become hardcoded or empty when you created this file
#ac_add_options --with-system-libxul
#ac_add_options --with-libxul-sdk=$(pkg-config --variable=sdkdir libxul)

# Comment out following options if you have not installed
# recommended dependencies:
ac_add_options --enable-system-sqlite
ac_add_options --with-system-libevent
ac_add_options --with-system-libvpx
ac_add_options --with-system-nspr
ac_add_options --with-system-nss

# It is recommended not to touch anything below this line
ac_add_options --prefix=/usr
ac_add_options --enable-application=browser

ac_add_options --disable-crashreporter
ac_add_options --disable-installer
ac_add_options --disable-updater
ac_add_options --disable-debug
ac_add_options --disable-tests

ac_add_options --enable-optimize
ac_add_options --enable-strip
ac_add_options --enable-install-strip

ac_add_options --enable-gio
ac_add_options --enable-official-branding
ac_add_options --enable-safe-browsing
ac_add_options --enable-url-classifier

ac_add_options --enable-system-ffi
ac_add_options --enable-system-pixman

ac_add_options --with-pthreads

ac_add_options --with-system-bz2
ac_add_options --with-system-jpeg
ac_add_options --with-system-png
ac_add_options --with-system-zlib

mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/firefox-build-dir
EOF

If you are building against an already installed Xulrunner apply the patch:

patch -Np1 -i ../firefox-23.0.1-search_box_fix-1.patch

If you are building against a system-installed Cairo apply the patch:

patch -Np1 -i ../firefox-23.0.1-system_cairo-1.patch

Compile Firefox by issuing the following commands:

sed -i 's@ ""@@' browser/base/Makefile.in &&
make -f client.mk

This package does not come with a test suite.

If you have not linked Firefox against an installed Xulrunner:

make -C firefox-build-dir/browser/installer

Now, as the root user, if you have not linked Firefox against an installed Xulrunner, install the package:

rm -rf /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1 &&
mkdir  /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1 &&

tar -xvf firefox-build-dir/dist/firefox-23.0.1.en-US.linux-$(uname -m).tar.bz2 \
    -C /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1 --strip-components=1 &&
chown -R -v root:root /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1 &&

ln -sfv ../lib/firefox-23.0.1/firefox /usr/bin &&

mkdir -pv /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins &&
ln -sfv ../mozilla/plugins /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1

If you have linked against an already installed Xulrunner, as the root user:

make -C firefox-build-dir install &&
ln -sfv ../lib/firefox-23.0.1/firefox /usr/bin &&
ln -sfv ../xulrunner-23.0.1 /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1/xulrunner &&

mkdir -pv /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins &&
ln -sfv ../mozilla/plugins /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1

NPAPI Headers

The above instructions just install the parts you need to run Firefox. If you want to compile gnash-0.8.10, the open source version of Flash, copy some headers that Gnash needs into /usr/include, as the root user:

rm -rf /usr/include/npapi &&
mkdir -v /usr/include/npapi &&
cp -v dom/plugins/base/*.h /usr/include/npapi
[Note]

Note

You don't need to install the headers if you have built Firefox against Xulrunner.

Command Explanations

sed -i 's@ ""@@' browser/base/Makefile.in: This sed removes an unprintable control character from the title bar.

make -f client.mk ...: Mozilla products are packaged to allow the use of a configuration file which can be used to pass the configuration settings to the configure command. make uses the client.mk file to get initial configuration and setup parameters.

make -C firefox-build-dir/browser/installer: this creates a Firefox tarball similar to the ones you can download from Mozilla.

tar -xfv firefox-build-dir/dist ...: This untars Firefox in /usr/lib. The --strip-components=1 option removes the leading 'firefox' directory from the filenames, allowing us to untar it into a versioned directory.

make -C firefox-build-dir install: This runs make install in firefox-build-dir.

ln -sfv ... /usr/bin/firefox: This puts a symbolic link to the firefox executable in your PATH variable.

mkdir -p /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins: This checks that /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins exists.

ln -sv ... /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1: This command creates a symbolic link to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. It's not really needed, as Firefox checks /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins by default, but the symbolic link is made to keep all the plugins installed in one folder.

Configuring Firefox

If you deleted the --disable-webm option from your mozconfig, your Firefox can play most YouTube videos without the need for the flash plugin. To enable this, go to http://www.youtube.com/html5 and click on 'Join the HTML5 Trial' (needs cookies enabled).

If you use a desktop environment like Gnome or KDE you may like to create a firefox.desktop file so that Firefox appears in the panel's menus. If you didn't enable startup-notification in your mozconfig change the StartupNotify line to false. As the root user:

mkdir -pv /usr/share/applications &&
mkdir -pv /usr/share/pixmaps &&

cat > /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop << "EOF" &&
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Firefox Web Browser
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
GenericName=Web Browser
Exec=firefox %u
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=firefox
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=application/xhtml+xml;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupNotify=true
EOF

ln -sfv /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1/browser/icons/mozicon128.png \
        /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png

Contents

Installed Programs: firefox
Installed Libraries: Numerous libraries, browser components, plugins, extensions, and helper modules installed in /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1
Installed Directories: /usr/include/npapi and /usr/lib/firefox-23.0.1

Short Descriptions

firefox

is a GTK+ 2 internet browser that uses the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine.

Last updated on 2013-09-06 00:48:50 -0700