Command explanations export MOZILLA_OFFICIAL="1" && export BUILD_OFFICIAL="1" Set some variables that affect what and how the package is built. The first two exports specify a distribution is being built. --prefix=/usr: Previously mozilla did not support the make install option. Hence, the package was installed in /opt. The package now supports "make install" and follows the FHS guidelines for installation. Therefore the book now recommends installation in a system wide prefix such as /usr . Use gtk2 toolkit. Use the system versions for these packages. : Enable the Xft support. You need fontconfig or the latest XFree86 version to enable xft. : Enable the Personal Security Manager to enable SSL connections. Various options that affect what components are built and some optimization options. You can pick and choose from these options. More information on them can be found in the Mozilla configure script help. Not all options are used in the instructions given above. : Enables extensions. If you want, you can disable all extensions other than the browser by changing this switch to --enable-extensions="default,-venkman,-inspector,-irc". For a short description of the various extensions available with the mozilla source, see . install -d /usr/include/mozilla-&mozilla-version;/nss cp -Lf dist/private/nss/*.h dist/public/nss/*.h \ /usr/include/mozilla-&mozilla-version;/nss Copy the nss headers that are not copied by make install. ln -nsf mozilla-&mozilla-version; ...: Mozilla installs headers and libraries in version specific directories. This command makes symbolic links so that applications that depend on Mozilla (such as OpenOffice , Galeon, etc.) don't need to know which version of Mozilla is installed. export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/lib/mozilla-&mozilla-version;" && export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME="/usr/lib/mozilla-&mozilla-version;" && ./regxpcom && ./regchrome && touch `find /usr/lib/mozilla-${VERSION} -name *.rdf` Create the required component registries to enable multi-user installs. These steps should be preformed by the root user each time a mozilla add-on is installed. This will allow normal users to run mozilla.