source: xsoft/graphweb/firefox.xml@ 6769aa6

<?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 "&mozilla-http;/firefox/releases/&firefox-version;/source/firefox-&firefox-version;.source.tar.xz">
  <!ENTITY firefox-download-ftp  " ">
  <!ENTITY firefox-md5sum        "a64c6cd4785ba1ae094faae16105dbf2">
  <!ENTITY firefox-size          "237 MB">
  <!-- NB with stylo, much of the build uses rust, and therefore cargo files.
    But when building 58.0 on rustc-1.22.1 the extra files, if any, seem to be minimal -->
  <!ENTITY firefox-buildsize     "7.4 GB (152 MB installed) without tests">
  <!ENTITY firefox-time          "20 SBU (with parallelism=4) without tests">
]>

<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>

    &lfs81_checked;

    <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>

    <note>
      <para>
        The build times for this version of firefox (using stylo, the new CSS
        rendering code) seem to vary widely between different machines. On one
        old Intel i3 the build took considerably longer. The reason for this is
        not understood. A build with stylo disabled is typically 1 or 2 SBU
        quicker and needs 0.8GB less disk space.
      </para>

      <para>
        Although upstream prefer to use <application>PulseAudio</application>,
        for the moment <application>Alsa</application> can still be used. Both
        may need runtime configuration to get sound working.
      </para>
    </note>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Additional Downloads</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Optional patch to allow system versions of <xref linkend="graphite2"/>
          and <xref linkend="harfbuzz"/>:
          <ulink url="&patch-root;/firefox-&firefox-version;-system_graphite2_harfbuzz-1.patch"/>
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <note>
      <para>
        The tarball <emphasis>firefox-&firefox-version;.source.tar.xz</emphasis>
        will untar to <emphasis>firefox-&firefox-version;</emphasis> directory.
        It will also reset the permissions of the current directory to 0755 if you
        have permission to do that. If you do this in a directory where
        the sticky bit is set, such
        as <filename class="directory">/tmp</filename> it will end with error
        messages:
      </para>

<literallayout>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
</literallayout>

      <para>
        This does finish with non-zero status, but it does
        <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> mean there is a real problem.
        Do not untar as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user
        in a directory where the sticky bit is set - that will unset it.
      </para>
    </note>

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

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Required</bridgehead>
    <para role="required">
      <xref linkend="autoconf213"/>,
      both <xref linkend="gtk3"/> and
      <xref linkend="gtk2"/>, 
      <xref linkend="libnotify"/>,
      <xref linkend="nss"/>,
      <xref linkend="pulseaudio"/>
      (or
      <xref linkend="alsa-lib"/> if you edit the mozconfig; 
        now deprecated by mozilla), in either case please read the
        Configuration Information,
      <xref linkend="rust"/>,
      <xref linkend="unzip"/>,
      <xref linkend="yasm"/>, and
      <xref linkend="zip"/>
    </para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Recommended</bridgehead>
    <para role="recommended">
      <xref linkend="icu"/>,
      <xref linkend="libevent"/>,
      <xref linkend="libvpx"/>,
      <package>clang</package> from <xref linkend="llvm"/> (for stylo), and
      <xref linkend="sqlite"/>
    </para>

    <note>
      <para>
        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.
      </para>
    </note>

    <note>
      <para>
        With <application>Firefox-31.0</application> and later versions, you
        must have installed <application>Openssl</application> before
        <application>Python 2</application> 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
        <filename>/usr/lib/python&python2-majorver;/lib-dynload/_ssl.so</filename>
        exists.  If it does not, reinstall <xref linkend="python2"/> (after
        installing <xref linkend="openssl"/>).  The latest version of any
        <emphasis>currently maintained</emphasis> version of Openssl should be
        satisfactory if already installed.
      </para>
    </note>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Optional</bridgehead>
    <para role="optional">
      <xref linkend="curl"/>,
      <xref linkend="dbus-glib"/>,
      <xref linkend="doxygen"/>,
      <xref linkend="GConf"/>,
      <xref role="runtime" linkend="ffmpeg"/> (runtime, to play mov, mp3 or mp4 files),
      <xref linkend="libwebp"/>,
      <xref linkend="openjdk"/>,
      <xref linkend="startup-notification"/>,
      <xref linkend="valgrind"/>,
      <xref linkend="wget"/>,
      <xref linkend="wireless_tools"/>,
      <ulink url="https://hunspell.github.io/">Hunspell</ulink>,
      <phrase revision="sysv"><ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/liboauth/files/">liboauth</ulink></phrase>
      <phrase revision="systemd"><xref linkend="liboauth"/></phrase>,
      <ulink url="https://github.com/libproxy/libproxy">libproxy</ulink>,
      and (with the patch)
      <xref linkend="graphite2"/> and
      <xref linkend="harfbuzz"/>
    </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 some of them), issue <command>./configure
      --help</command>. You may also wish to review the entire file and
      uncomment any other desired options.  Create the file by issuing the
      following command:
    </para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt; mozconfig &lt;&lt; "EOF"
<literal># If you have a multicore machine, all cores will be used by default.
# You can change the number of non-rust jobs by setting a valid number
# of cores in this option, but when rust crates are being compiled
# jobs will be scheduled for all the online 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

# API Keys for geolocation APIs - necko-wifi (above) is required for MLS
# Uncomment the following line if you wish to use Mozilla Location Service
#ac_add_options --with-mozilla-api-keyfile=$PWD/mozilla-key

# Uncomment the following line if you wish to use Google's geolocaton API
# (needed for use with saved maps with Google Maps)
#ac_add_options --with-google-api-keyfile=$PWD/google-key

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

# Uncomment the following option if you have not installed PulseAudio
#ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio
# and uncomment this if you installed alsa-lib instead of PulseAudio
#ac_add_options --enable-alsa

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

# Stylo is the new CSS code, including the rust 'style'
# package. It is enabled by default but requires clang.
# Uncomment this if you do not wish to use stylo.
#ac_add_options --disable-stylo

# 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
# enabling the tests will use a lot more space and significantly
# increase the build time, for no obvious benefit.
ac_add_options --disable-tests

# Optimization for size is broken with gcc7
ac_add_options --enable-optimize="-O2"

ac_add_options --enable-official-branding

# From firefox-40, using system cairo caused firefox to crash
# frequently when it was doing background rendering in a tab.
# This appears to again work in firefox-56
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</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>

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

    <para>
      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 <filename>mozconfig</filename>
      file.
    </para>

<screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../firefox-&firefox-version;-system_graphite2_harfbuzz-1.patch</userinput></screen>

    <para>
      If the geolocation APIs are needed:
    </para>

    <note>
      <para>
        <!-- Taken from Arch Linux - an immensely helpful link - Thanks -->
        The Google and Mozilla API Keys below are specific to LFS. If using
        these instructions for another distro, or if you intend to distribute
        binary copies of the software using these instructions, please obtain
        your own keys following the instructions located at
        <ulink url="http://www.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/api-keys"/> and
        <ulink url="https://location.services.mozilla.com/api"/> respectively.
        <!-- BLFS Devs, register an account at Google with your
        @linuxfromscratch.org email address, and I'll make you an administrator
        for the 'Google APIs for LFS' project (where the API and OAuth keys
        were created for use in the book).-->
      </para>
    </note>

<screen><userinput>echo "AIzaSyDxKL42zsPjbke5O8_rPVpVrLrJ8aeE9rQ" > google-key
echo "d2284a20-0505-4927-a809-7ffaf4d91e55" > mozilla-key</userinput></screen>

    <note><para>
      If you are compiling <application>Firefox</application> in chroot, make
      sure you have <envar>$SHELL</envar> environment variable set or prepend
      <envar>SHELL=/bin/sh</envar>.
    </para></note>

<!-- the BINDGEN_CFLAGS are to work around
 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1341234
 which is reported to be fixed in ff58 -->
<screen><userinput>
./mach build
</userinput></screen>

    <para>
      The <filename>mozconfig</filename> above disables the tests because
      they use a lot more time and disk space for no obvious benefit. If
      you have nevertheless enabled them, you can run the tests by executing
      <command>./mach gtest</command>. This will require a network connection,
      and to be run from within an Xorg session - there is a popup dialog
      when it fails to connect to ALSA (that does not create a failed test).
      One or two tests will fail.  To see the details of the failure(s) you
      will need to log the output from that command so that you can review it.
    </para>

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

<screen role="root"><userinput>./mach install                                                  &amp;&amp;

mkdir -pv  /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins                             &amp;&amp;
ln    -sfv ../../mozilla/plugins /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/browser</userinput></screen>
<!--
    <para>
      Set environment variables back to their values:
    </para>

<screen><userinput>export CFLAGS=$CFLAGS_HOLD     &amp;&amp;
export CXXFLAGS=$CXXFLAGS_HOLD &amp;&amp;
unset CFLAGS_HOLD CXXFLAGS_HOLD</userinput></screen>
-->

  </sect2>

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

    <para>
      <command>./mach build</command>: <application>Firefox</application>
      now uses this <application>python2</application> script to run the
      build and install.
    </para>

    <para>
      <option>./mach build --verbose</option>: Use this alternative if you
      need details of which files are being compiled, together with any C or
      C++ flags being used.
    </para>

    <para>
      <command>mkdir -p /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins</command>: This checks
      that <filename class="directory">/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins</filename>
      exists.
    </para>

    <para>
      <command>ln -sv ... /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/browser</command>:
      This command creates a symbolic link to <filename
      class="directory">/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins</filename>. It's not really
      needed, as <application>Firefox</application> checks <filename
      class="directory">/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins</filename> by default, but the
      symbolic link is made to keep all the plugins installed in one folder.
    </para>

  </sect2>

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

    <para>
      If you use a desktop environment like <application>Gnome</application> or
      <application>KDE</application> you may like to create a
      <filename>firefox.desktop</filename> file so that
      <application>Firefox</application> appears in the panel's menus. If you
      didn't enable startup-notification in your mozconfig change the
      StartupNotify line to false. As the
      <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:
    </para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>mkdir -pv /usr/share/applications &amp;&amp;
mkdir -pv /usr/share/pixmaps &amp;&amp;

cat &gt; /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop &lt;&lt; "EOF" &amp;&amp;
<literal>[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=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupNotify=true</literal>
EOF

ln -sfv /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;/browser/icons/mozicon128.png \
        /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png</userinput></screen>

    <sect3><title>Configuration Information</title>

      <para>
        The application settings for firefox are accessible by keying
        <command>about:config</command> in the address bar.
      </para>

      <para>
        With this version of <application>firefox</application>, getting
        working sound can be a problem.  Although upstream prefers pulseaudio,
        on balance using <application>Alsa</application> may be easier.
      </para>

      <para>
        If you enabled <application>Alsa</application> for sound, you may need
        to alter one variable to get working sound. If you run
        <command>firefox</command> from a term and try to play something with
        sound you might encounter error messages like:
      </para>

      <para>
         <literal>Sandbox: seccomp sandbox violation: pid 3941, tid 4030,
         syscall 16, args 48 2147767296 139909894784796 0 0 0.</literal>
      </para>

      <para>
        That was on x86_64, on i686 the syscall number is 54. To allow this
        syscall, in <command>about:config</command> change
        <command>security.sandbox.content.syscall_whitelist</command> to 16
        (or 54 if using i686).
      </para>

      <para>
        If you use <command>pulseaudio</command> in a Desktop Environment, it
        might already be started by that DE.  But if it is not, although
        firefox-57 managed to start it, firefox-58 does not.  If you run
        <command>firefox</command> from a term, trying to play sound will
        encounter error messages warning <literal>Can't get cubeb
        context!</literal>
      </para>

    <para>
      The fix for this is to close firefox, start pulseaudio to check it
      does start (if not, read the information on Configuring in <xref
      linkend="pulseaudio"/>) and restart firefox to check it is working.
      If it now works, add the following to your <filename>~/.xinitrc</filename>:
<phrase revision="sysv">
<literal>pulseaudio --verbose --log-target=syslog&amp;</literal></phrase>
<phrase revision="systemd">
<literal>pulseaudio --verbose --log-target=journald&amp;</literal></phrase>
        (unfortunately, on some systems this does not work).
      </para>

      <para>
        You may wish to use multiple profiles within firefox. To do that, invoke
        firefox as <command>firefox --ProfileManager</command>. You can also
        check which profile is currently in use from
        <command>about:profiles</command>.
      </para>

    </sect3>
  </sect2>

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

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

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>
          firefox
        </seg>
        <seg>
          Numerous libraries, browser components, plugins, extensions, and
          helper modules installed in /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version;
        </seg>
        <seg>
          /usr/lib/firefox-&firefox-version; and /usr/lib/mozilla
        </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 <application>GTK+-3</application> internet browser that uses
            the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine.
          </para>
          <indexterm zone="firefox firefox-prog">
            <primary sortas="b-firefox">firefox</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>