glfs/xsoft/graphweb/firefox.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY firefox-download-http "http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/&firefox-version;/source/firefox-&firefox-version;-source.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY firefox-download-ftp  "ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/&firefox-version;/source/firefox-&firefox-version;-source.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY firefox-md5sum        "24398e3d98673a2a92a01a8f771ca12a">
  <!ENTITY firefox-size          "35.4 MB">
  <!ENTITY firefox-buildsize     "455 MB">
  <!ENTITY firefox-time          "9.9 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="firefox" xreflabel="Firefox-&firefox-version;">
  <?dbhtml filename="firefox.html" ?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>

  <title>Firefox-&firefox-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="firefox">
    <primary sortas="a-Firefox">Firefox</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title>Introduction to Firefox</title>

    <para><application>Firefox</application> is a stand-alone browser
    based on the <application>Mozilla</application> codebase.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Package Information</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (HTTP): <ulink url="&firefox-download-http;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (FTP): <ulink url="&firefox-download-ftp;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download MD5 sum: &firefox-md5sum;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download size: &firefox-size;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated disk space required: &firefox-buildsize;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated build time: &firefox-time;</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Firefox Dependencies</bridgehead>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Required</bridgehead>
    <para role="required"><xref linkend="gtk2"/>,
    <xref linkend="libidl"/>, and
    <xref linkend="zip"/></para>

    <para>Note: <application>libjpeg</application> should have been installed
    before <application>GTK+</application> and should exist on your system. If
    for some reason you haven't installed <application>libjpeg</application>,
    you should remove the <option>--with-system-jpeg</option> option from the
    <filename>.mozconfig</filename> file created below.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Recommended (if you will be installing any
    other package that utilizes NSS/NSPR, such as
    <application>Thunderbird</application>,
    <application>Mozilla</application>,
    <application>Evolution</application>, or
    <application>OpenOffice</application>)</bridgehead>
    <para role="recommended"><xref linkend="nss"/></para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Optional</bridgehead>
    <para role="optional"><xref linkend="unzip"/> and
    <xref linkend="libgnomeui"/> (to build the gnomevfs extension)</para>

    <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
    <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/firefox"/></para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Firefox</title>

    <para>The configuration of <application>Firefox</application> is
    accomplished by creating a <filename>.mozconfig</filename> file containing
    the desired configuration options. A default <filename>.mozconfig</filename>
    is created below. To see the entire list of available configuration options
    (and an abbreviated description of each one), issue
    <command>./configure --help</command>.  If you are going to use
    system-installed versions of the <application>NSS</application> and
    <application>NSPR</application> libraries, ensure you uncomment the two
    lines near the bottom of the file. If you are going to build the
    <application>OpenOffice</application> package and you want to use this
    <application>Firefox</application> installation as the default
    <application>Mozilla</application> source, ensure you uncomment the
    <option>--enable-ldap</option> option in the file created below.
    You may also wish to review the entire file and uncomment any other desired
    options. If you would prefer to download the file instead of creating it by
    typing or cut-and-pasting, you can find it at <ulink
    url="&files-anduin;/firefox-&firefox-version;-mozconfig"/>
    (the file must be installed in the root of the source tree
    <filename class='directory'>mozilla</filename> directory, and named
    <filename>.mozconfig</filename>). Create the file by issuing the following
    command:</para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt; .mozconfig &lt;&lt; "EOF"
<literal># This file contains the options used in the Firefox build. You may
# need to specify additional options for your specific build needs.
# Use the information provided by running './configure --help' to
# help you determine if you need to add any additional options.
# Some additional options can be added by uncommenting the examples
# in this file or adding options by inserting a line containing
# 'ac_add_options --some-option-you-need'.


# Use the default settings specified in the source tree
. $topsrcdir/browser/config/mozconfig

# Create an object directory and specify to build the package in that
# directory. If desired, modify the location of the object directory
# to a directory inside the source tree by removing '../' from the
# line below.
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/../firefox-build

# Specify the installation prefix. If you would prefer Firefox
# installed in a different prefix, modify the line below to fit
# your needs. You'll also need to modify some of the instructions in
# the BLFS book to point to your desired prefix.
ac_add_options --prefix=/usr

# These options are used so that the Firefox binaries are linked to
# the system-installed copies of the specified libraries instead of
# the source tree code which may not be the most recent versions.
ac_add_options --with-system-zlib
ac_add_options --with-system-png
ac_add_options --with-system-jpeg
ac_add_options --enable-system-cairo

# This option causes the installed binaries to have the official
# Firefox name embedded in them. Due to license restrictions, you
# may not distribute binaries created using this option.
ac_add_options --enable-official-branding

# This option is used to enable support for rendering SVG files in the
# Firefox browser. Comment out the line to disable the option.
ac_add_options --enable-svg

# This option is used so that the debugging symbols are removed from
# the installed binaries during the installation process. Comment out
# this option if you may have a need to retain the debugging symbols
# in the installed binaries. Note that this can substantially
# increase the size of the installed binaries.
ac_add_options --enable-strip

# This option is added so that test libraries and programs are not
# built. These would only be required for debugging purposes.
ac_add_options --disable-tests

# This option is added so that the Mozilla Installer program is not
# built or installed. The program is not required for a BLFS
# installation of Firefox.
ac_add_options --disable-installer

# This option is used to disable the a11y support in the Firefox
# binaries. Comment out this option if you require a11y support.
ac_add_options --disable-accessibility

# This option is used to enable source tree included LDAP support in
# the Firefox binaries.
###################################################################
#
# NOTE: You must uncomment this option if there is any chance of
# compiling the OpenOffice package from source code using this copy
# of Firefox for your Mozilla support.
#
###################################################################
#ac_add_options --enable-ldap

# Uncomment this option if you desire support for dual-monitor
# display of Firefox using the X-Window Xinerama libraries.
#ac_add_options --enable-xinerama

# These two options enable support for building Firefox with
# system-installed versions of the Network Security Services (NSS)
# and Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR) libraries. Uncomment both
# lines to enable support for system-installed NSS/NSPR.
#ac_add_options --with-system-nss
#ac_add_options --with-system-nspr

# Complex scripts such as Thai can only be rendered in Firefox with the
# help of Pango. This option significantly slows rendering, so only use
# it if necessary.
#ac_add_options --enable-pango

# This option identifies the default binary directory of the Firefox
# installation and is used to locate Firefox's installed files. This
# option is not required for end-user browsing, and is only used for
# development purposes.
#ac_add_options --with-default-mozilla-five-home=/usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;</literal>

EOF</userinput></screen>

    <para>Compile <application>Firefox</application> by issuing the
    following commands:</para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt;&gt; layout/build/Makefile.in &lt;&lt; "EOF" &amp;&amp;
ifdef MOZ_ENABLE_CANVAS
EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS += $(XLDFLAGS) -lX11 -lXrender
endif
EOF
sed -i "s/^    enum$/&amp; xptinfo_enum_1/" \
    xpcom/reflect/xptinfo/public/xptinfo.h &amp;&amp;
make -f client.mk build</userinput></screen>

    <para>This package does not come with a test suite.</para>

    <para>Now, as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user,
    install the package:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>make -f client.mk install &amp;&amp;

install -v -m755 -d /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/chrome/icons/default &amp;&amp;
ln -v -s ../../../icons/default.xpm \
    /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/chrome/icons/default &amp;&amp;

chown -v -R root:root \
    /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/extensions/inspector@mozilla.org/*</userinput></screen>

    <para>If you enabled LDAP support in the <application>Firefox</application>
    build, install some additional interface headers as the
    <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>install -v -m644 ../firefox-build/dist/public/ldap-private/* \
    /usr/include/firefox-&firefox-version;/ldap</userinput></screen>

    <para>If you built <application>Firefox</application> utilizing
    system-installed NSS and NSPR libraries, the
    <filename>firefox-ns*.pc</filename> <application>pkgconfig</application>
    files are broken as they point to the wrong directories where the actual
    libraries and interface headers are located. Issue the following commands
    as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user to replace the
    broken files with symbolic links to known good files:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>ln -v -sf nss.pc /usr/lib/pkgconfig/firefox-nss.pc &amp;&amp;
ln -v -sf nspr.pc /usr/lib/pkgconfig/firefox-nspr.pc</userinput></screen>

    <para>If you did <emphasis role="strong">NOT</emphasis> build
    <application>Firefox</application> utilizing system-installed NSS and
    NSPR libraries, issue the following commands as the
    <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user to install the NSS
    interface headers:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>install -v -m755 -d /usr/include/firefox-&firefox-version;/nss &amp;&amp;
cp -v -Lf ../firefox-build/dist/{private,public}/nss/*.h \
    /usr/include/firefox-&firefox-version;/nss</userinput></screen>

    <note>
      <para>You should run <command>/usr/bin/firefox</command> once as the
      <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user (or any user with
      write privileges) to create some necessary additional files in the
      <filename class='directory'>/usr</filename> hierarchy.</para>
    </note>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="commands">
    <title>Command Explanations</title>

    <para><command>'EXTRA_DSO_LDOPTS' += -lX11 -lXrender ...</command>:
    Building the layout backend will break when the canvas element is enabled
    without adding these two required libraries.</para>

    <para><command>sed -i "s/^    enum$/&amp; xptinfo_enum_1/" ...</command>:
    This command is used to fix an anonymous enum in an external/public
    interface header file.</para>

    <para><command>make -f client.mk ...</command>: Mozilla products are
    packaged to allow the use of a configuration file which can be used to
    pass the configuration settings to the <command>configure</command>
    command. <command>make</command> uses the <filename>client.mk</filename>
    file to get initial configuration and setup parameters, then depending on
    the target parameter (<parameter>build</parameter> or
    <parameter>install</parameter>), either runs the
    <command>configure</command> script and compiles the package or installs
    the package.</para>

    <para><command>install -v -m755 -d .../chrome/icons/default</command> and
    <command>ln -v -s ../../../icons/default.xpm ...</command>: These two
    commands are used to create a symlink in the required directory so that
    the proper icon is displayed in the taskbar and when
    <application>Firefox</application> windows are minimized.</para>

    <para><command>chown -v -R root:root ...</command>: This command changes
    the ownership of some installed files to more appropriate user:group
    names.</para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="configuration">
    <title>Configuring Firefox</title>

    <para>No specific configuration is required as long as the
    <command>firefox</command> script is in the user's path. If
    <application>Firefox</application> is installed in a non-standard location,
    then make a symlink to the <command>firefox</command> script in the
    <filename class="directory">/usr/bin</filename> directory.</para>

    <para>If your Window or Desktop Manager does not allow you to configure
    a default mail client, you can add a configuration parameter to
    <application>Firefox</application> so that an email client will start
    when you click on a <systemitem role='url'>mailto:</systemitem> URL.
    There are two parameters you need to check. The procedure to check or
    modify any of the configuration parameters is quite simple and the
    instructions here can be used to view or modify any of the
    parameters.</para>

    <para>First, open the configuration dialog by entering
    <systemitem role='url'>about:config</systemitem> in the address bar. This
    will display a list of the configuration preferences and information
    related to each one. You can use the <quote>Filter:</quote> bar to enter
    search criteria and narrow down the listed items. Changing a preference
    can be done using two methods. One, if the preference has a boolean value
    (True/False), simply double-click on the preference to toggle the value
    and two, for other preferences simply right-click on the desired line,
    choose <quote>Modify</quote> from the menu and change the value. Creating
    new preference items is accomplished in the same way, except choose
    <quote>New</quote> from the menu and provide the desired data into the
    fields when prompted.</para>

    <para>The two configuration preference items you need to check so that
    <application>Firefox</application> uses a specified default mail client
    are the <parameter>network.protocol-handler.external.mailto</parameter>
    which should be set to <option>True</option> and the
    <parameter>network.protocol-handler.app.mailto</parameter> which should
    be set to the path of the desired mail client, e.g.,
    <option>/usr/bin/thunderbird</option>.</para>

    <tip>
      <para>There is a multitude of configuration parameters you can tweak to
      customize <application>Firefox</application>. A very extensive and
      up-to-date list of these parameters can be found at <ulink
      url="http://preferential.mozdev.org/preferences.html"/>.</para>
    </tip>

    <para>Many applications look for <command>netscape</command> when they
    need to open a browser. You may wish to make the following symlink for
    convenience (as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>
    user).</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>ln -v -sf firefox /usr/bin/netscape</userinput></screen>

    <para>For installing various <application>Firefox</application> plugins,
    refer to <ulink url="http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux.html">Mozdev's
    PluginDoc Project</ulink>. If you have the <xref linkend="jdk"/> already
    installed, create the following link as the
    <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user to utilize the installed
    <application>Java</application> plugin: </para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>ln -v -s $JAVA_HOME/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so \
    /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/plugins</userinput></screen>

    <para>Some packages install Mozilla plugins into the default system-wide
    directory <filename class='directory'>/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins</filename>.
    If desired, create symbolic links in the <application>Firefox</application>
    plugin directory
    <filename class='directory'>/usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/plugins</filename>
    to the files in the default plugin directory (you should link to the actual
    files and not other links). Alternatively, you can move or copy the files
    in the default plugin directory to the
    <application>Firefox</application> plugin directory. An example of creating
    a symbolic link is shown below. Create the links as the
    <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>ln -v -s ../../mozilla/plugins/<replaceable>&lt;plugin.so&gt;</replaceable> \
    /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/plugins</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="content">
    <title>Contents</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed Programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>firefox and firefox-config</seg>
        <seg>Numerous libraries, browser components, plugins, extensions, and
        helper modules installed in <filename
        class='directory'>/usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;</filename></seg>
        <seg>/usr/include/firefox-&firefox-version;,
        /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;, and
        /usr/share/idl/firefox-&firefox-version;</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="firefox-prog">
        <term><command>firefox</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a shell script that sets up the environment and
          calls the <filename>firefox-bin</filename> binary.</para>
          <indexterm zone="firefox firefox-prog">
            <primary sortas="b-firefox">firefox</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="firefox-config">
        <term><command>firefox-config</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>determines the compile and linker flags that should be
          used to compile and link programs that use
          <application>Firefox</application> libraries and browser
          components.</para>
          <indexterm zone="firefox firefox-config">
            <primary sortas="b-firefox-config">firefox-config</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>