Beyond Linux^® From Scratch (systemd edition) - Version 7.10

Chapter 42. Graphical Web Browsers

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Firefox-48.0.2

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-7.10 platform.

Package Information

Download (HTTP): https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/48.0.2/source/firefox-48.0.2.source.tar.xz
Download MD5 sum: bd6410592a8c608c0f771c056351493c
Download size: 180 MB
Estimated disk space required: 5.3 GB (84 MB installed)
Estimated build time: 12 SBU (with parallelism=4 on a recent intel i7, much longer on lesser CPUs)

Additional Downloads

Required patch if using gtk+-3.20 or later (do not use with earlier versions) http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/blfs/7.10/firefox-48.0.2-gtk320-1.patch
Optional patch to allow system versions of Graphite2-1.3.8 and HarfBuzz-1.3.0 - this should be regarded as experimental http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/blfs/7.10/firefox-48.0.2-system_graphite2_harfbuzz-2.patch

Note

The tarball firefox-48.0.2.source.tar.xz will untar to firefox-48.0.2 directory. However, if you do this in a directory where the sticky bit is set, such as /tmp it will end with error messages:

tar: .: Cannot utime: Operation not permitted
tar: .: Cannot change mode to rwxr-xr-t: Operation not permitted
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

This does finish with non-zero status, but it does NOT mean there is a real problem. Do not untar as the root user in a directory where the sticky bit is set - that will unset it.

Firefox Dependencies

Required

alsa-lib-1.1.2, Autoconf-2.13, GTK+-3.20.9 (or GTK+-2.24.30 if you change the mozconfig where indicated), NSS-3.26, UnZip-6.0, yasm-1.3.0, and Zip-3.0

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 They might be tested to work, but they can be out of date or contain security holes.

Note

With Firefox-31.0 and later versions, you must have installed Openssl before Python 2 or the build system will quickly fail with output including "ImportError: cannot import name HTTPSHandler". If you are in any doubt about this (e.g. upgrading from an older version of Firefox), check if /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ssl.so exists. If it does not, reinstall Python-2.7.12 (after installing OpenSSL-1.0.2h). The latest version of any currently maintained version of Openssl should be satisfactory if already installed.

Optional

cURL-7.50.1, dbus-glib-0.106, Doxygen-1.8.11, GConf-3.2.6, FFmpeg-3.1.3 (runtime), libwebp-0.5.1, OpenJDK-1.8.0.102, PulseAudio-9.0, startup-notification-0.12, Valgrind-3.11.0, Wget-1.18, Wireless Tools-29, Hunspell, liboauth, and libproxy, Rust, and (with the patch) Graphite2-1.3.8 and HarfBuzz-1.3.0

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

Installation of Firefox

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, all cores will be used by default.
# If desired, you can reduce the number of cores used, 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 dbus-glib, and you have installed (or will install)
# wireless-tools, and you wish to use geolocation web services, comment out
# this line
ac_add_options --disable-necko-wifi

# Uncomment this option if you wish to build with gtk+-2
#ac_add_options --enable-default-toolkit=cairo-gtk2

# Uncomment these lines if you have installed optional dependencies:
#ac_add_options --enable-system-hunspell
#ac_add_options --enable-startup-notification

# Comment out following option if you have PulseAudio installed
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio

# If you have installed GConf, comment out this line
ac_add_options --disable-gconf

# 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
ac_add_options --with-system-icu

# If you are going to apply the patch for system graphite
# and system harfbuzz, uncomment these lines:
#ac_add_options --with-system-graphite2
#ac_add_options --with-system-harfbuzz

# Stripping is now enabled by default.
# Uncomment these lines if you need to run a debugger:
#ac_add_options --disable-strip
#ac_add_options --disable-install-strip

# The BLFS editors recommend not changing anything below this line:
ac_add_options --prefix=/usr
ac_add_options --enable-application=browser

ac_add_options --disable-crashreporter
ac_add_options --disable-updater
ac_add_options --disable-tests

ac_add_options --enable-optimize

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

# From firefox-40, using system cairo causes firefox to crash
# frequently when it is doing background rendering in a tab.
#ac_add_options --enable-system-cairo
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

Compile Firefox by issuing the following commands:

If you are using gtk+-3.20 or later, apply a patch to restore the slider on scrollbars:

patch -Np1 -i ../firefox-48.0.2-gtk320-1.patch

If you have installed system versions of graphite2 and harfbuzz and wish firefox to use those instead of its shipped versions, apply the patch and uncomment the appropriate entries in the mozconfig file:

patch -Np1 -i ../firefox-48.0.2-system_graphite2_harfbuzz-2.patch

Note

If you are compiling Firefox in chroot, make sure you have $SHELL environment variable set or prepend SHELL=/bin/sh.

export CFLAGS_HOLD=$CFLAGS &&
export CXXFLAGS_HOLD=$CXXFLAGS &&
export CFLAGS+=" -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -fno-lifetime-dse -fno-schedule-insns2" &&
export CXXFLAGS+=" -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -fno-lifetime-dse -fno-schedule-insns2" &&

make -f client.mk

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make -f client.mk install INSTALL_SDK= &&
chown -R 0:0 /usr/lib/firefox-48.0.2   &&

mkdir -pv    /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins  &&
ln    -sfv   ../../mozilla/plugins /usr/lib/firefox-48.0.2/browser

Set environment variables back to their values:

export CFLAGS=$CFLAGS_HOLD     &&
export CXXFLAGS=$CXXFLAGS_HOLD &&
unset CFLAGS_HOLD CXXFLAGS_HOLD

Command Explanations

CFLAGS= ... CXXFLAGS= ...: These settings work around code which gcc6 would otherwise regard as out-of-specification and allow it to produce a working program.

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.

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

ln -sv ... /usr/lib/firefox-48.0.2/browser: 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 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-48.0.2/browser/icons/mozicon128.png \
        /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png

Installed Programs: firefox

Installed Libraries: Numerous libraries, browser components, plugins, extensions, and helper modules installed in /usr/lib/firefox-48.0.2

Installed Directory: /usr/lib/firefox-48.0.2

Short Descriptions

firefox

is a GTK+ 3 internet browser that uses the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine.

Last updated on 2016-09-02 01:57:33 -0700

Prev
SeaMonkey-2.40
Next
Other X-based Programs
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Home

Beyond Linux^® From Scratch (systemd edition) - Version 7.10

Chapter 42. Graphical Web Browsers

Firefox-48.0.2

Introduction to Firefox

Package Information

Additional Downloads

Note

Firefox Dependencies

Required

Recommended

Note

Note

Optional

Installation of Firefox

Note

Command Explanations

Configuring Firefox

Contents

Short Descriptions

Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd edition) - Version 7.10

Chapter 42. Graphical Web Browsers

Firefox-48.0.2

Introduction to Firefox

Package Information

Additional Downloads

Note

Firefox Dependencies

Required

Recommended

Note

Note

Optional

Installation of Firefox

Note

Command Explanations

Configuring Firefox

Contents

Short Descriptions

Beyond Linux^® From Scratch (systemd edition) - Version 7.10