Development:Building:Mozilla 1.9.0 Branch

Stuff to Fix

Our existing developer documentation currently covers the build process and is in pretty good shape. There are, however, things we should improve.

• Fix instructions for Building Intel (Bug 327789)

  also, best -j flag for Core Duos

  delliott's Development:Building:Intel

• The stuff on Talk:Development:Building:Intel
• Link to MDC's CVS, Mac build, Uni build articles
• Link to wkik.m.o's constantly updated Mac Build Matrix
• "The gcc_select issue should be in bold 24pt font" (feedback from irc)
• Set up for OBJDIRs by default, since everyone is using them
• The instructions assume the use of a bash shell (default for new user accounts created on 10.3 or higher)
• src tarball link: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/camino/source
• Common build errors Development:Building:Build_Errors and how to solve

Scratchpad for doing the fixing

The purpose of this page is to guide you through building and running Camino™. Camino is a stand-alone web browser powered by the Gecko rendering engine. It shouldn't be confused with Cocoazilla (a separate project to implement the full Mozilla suite using Cocoa), or CHBrowserView, which is just one piece of Camino. If you are new to Camino development, please see our <a href="/development/">developer introduction</a> for an overview of project conventions and the tools you'll need.

These instructions assume that you are familiar with basic UNIX command-line functionality, such as cd and mkdir. For an introduction to the UNIX command line, please see this <a href="http://www.macobserver.com/tips/macosxcl101/index.html">tutorial</a>.

Preparing to build: Xcode

Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and Xcode 1.5 or Xcode 2.1 or later are now required for building Camino. Xcode is included on a separate disk with the purchase of a new Mac and is available as a free download from <a href="http://developer.apple.com/">Apple Developer Connection</a>.

Camino requires a custom Xcode installation to build properly: during installation, click the "Customize" button and turn on the "Cross Development" section. If you have previously installed Xcode without this option, run the installer again to add Cross Development before attempting to build Camino. Currently PowerPC builds required the 10.2.8 SDK (this will change in the near future) and Intel builds require the 10.4.u SDK; Universal builds require both SDKs.

Choosing the correct compiler version

If you are building on Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") or later on PowerPC, you must change the default system compiler to gcc 3.3, the compiler used to produce official PowerPC builds. Use the following command:

$ sudo gcc_select 3.3

Builds on Intel Macintoshes, and on PowerPC Macs running Mac OS X 10.3.9, use the proper compiler versions (gcc 4.0.1, from Xcode 2.1 or later, on Intel, and gcc 3.3, from Xcode 1.5, on 10.3.9) by default, so no changes are needed.

libIDL and glib

Follow the instructions on the <a href="http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mac_OS_X_Build_Prerequisites#Software_Requirements">Mozilla Mac OS X Build Prerequisites page</a> for installing Fink or DarwinPorts and using them to install libIDL and glib. DarwinPorts is recommended for Intel-based Macs. If you are using Fink, be sure to remove the /sw directory entirely and reinstall Fink if you upgrade to a new major version of Mac OS X.

Shared Menus Framework

This section needs lots of work; we may well want to do it all ourself, as it's weird to send Uni/Intel people to the other page and non-Uni people here, possibly confusing everyone...

Follow the instructions on the <a href="http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mac_OS_X_Build_Prerequisites#Software_Requirements">Build Prerequisites page</a> for downloading the Shared Menus Framework. If you are building on an Intel Mac or plan on building a Universal Camino, you will need to follow the instructions in the <a href="http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mac_OS_X_Universal_Binaries#Building_a_Universal_SharedMenusCocoa">Mozilla Mac OS X Universal Binaries guide</a> to create a Universal Shared Menus Framework before installing it.

You will need to create a reference to the Shared Menus Framework inside the appropriate SDK folder(s). To do this, first <a href="ftp://ftp.url-manager.com/pub/SharedMenusCocoa.dmg.bin">download the SDK</a>, then place it in /Library/Frameworks. When copying the SDK, be sure to copy the SharedMenusCocoa.framework file from the build directory on the disk image. Continue as follows:

1. Check to see if you have the folder /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.2.8.sdk (and the folder /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk if you're building on Intel on building a Universal Camino.
   If so, skip to step 2; if not, install the Xcode Cross Development tools as described above.
   
2. $ sudo mkdir -p /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.2.8.sdk/Library/Frameworks
3. $ cd /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.2.8.sdk/Library/Frameworks
4. $ sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/SharedMenusCocoa.framework SharedMenusCocoa.framework
5. For Universal or Intel builds, repeat the above three steps, substituting MacOSX10.4u.sdk for MacOSX10.2.8.sdk in each command.

Setting up your CVS Environment

Prepare your CVS client using the following parameters:

• server: cvs-mirror.mozilla.org
• root directory: cvsroot
• username: anonymous
• password: anonymous

If you are using Terminal.app (recommended) and the bash shell (the default for user accounts created under Mac OS X 10.3 or later), the following command will set up and save the above CVS configuration information:

$ export CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot

If you are using another shell, you will have to use a different command to save the CVS configuration, but all subsequent commands in the checkout and build process are the same. (You can get to a bash shell at any time by typing "bash" at the command line and hitting "return.")

To connect to the CVS server, enter the command

$ cvs login

Enter the password when prompted. You are now ready to pull the source code from the server.

Pulling Source and Building Mozilla and Camino

1. cd into the directory where you would like to keep your copy of the Camino source code (e.g., cd ~/lizard).
2. Pull the main build makefile and configuration directory:
   $ cvs co mozilla/client.mk
$ cvs co mozilla/camino/config/mozconfig
3. cd into the mozilla directory that was just created:
   $ cd mozilla
4. In your mozilla directory, create a plain text file called .mozconfig (note the leading period). This file is where you will set up the options for your Camino build. To begin, add the following line to your .mozconfig file (note the leading dot and space):
   . $topsrcdir/camino/config/mozconfig
   
   
   .mozconfig options
   
   • Optimized or Debug Mode Build
     The default settings will create an optimized build of Camino. To build in debug mode (for easier troubleshooting during development), add the following two lines:
     ac_add_options --disable-optimize
ac_add_options --enable-debug

     Please Note: It's important to be aware of whether you've set up .mozconfig for a debug or optimized build, because you must match that setting when building Camino from Xcode. If the settings are not matched, key build variables won't get set correctly and vtables will be out of alignment. The net result is that either you won't link, or you'll crash at startup.
     
     
   • Static or Dynamic Build
     By default, Camino is built dynamically. To do a static build of Camino (which means that most of the components are compiled directly into the Camino binary), you can add the following lines to your .mozconfig file:
     ac_add_options --disable-shared
ac_add_options --enable-static

     Static builds are used for distribution but are not recommended for development.
     
     
   • Building More Quickly on Dual-CPU Machines
     If your machine has two CPUs, you can take advantage of that while building Camino. Add the following to your .mozconfig file:
     mk_add_options MOZ_MAKE_FLAGS=-j4
     
     
   
   Sample .mozconfig
   sample
   
5. Pull source and build:
   • To pull the source and build in one step, use:
     $ make -f client.mk
     
     This will automatically pull the source code from the CVS server and build Camino (including various components of Mozilla that Camino requires). The final Camino package ends up in mozilla/camino/build.
     
     
   • To pull the source without building, use this command:
     $ make -f client.mk checkout MOZ_CO_PROJECT=macbrowser

You can then build at any time by running make -f client.mk from the mozilla directory.

Development

To work on Camino front-end code, open up the Camino.xcode project (from the camino directory) in Xcode. You can edit code, build, and run from inside of Xcode.

When building with Xcode, make sure your build settings match those in your .mozconfig file: from the "Active Build Style" item in the toolbar, choose "Development" for a debug build, or "Deployment" for an optimized build. If you do not match your settings to your .mozconfig, your build will fail.

Widget Code
If you've edited the Cocoa widget code, you can make in mozilla/widget/src/cocoa to rebuild the widget library with your changes. The easiest way to get the new version of the library into Camino to test it is to use cp to copy it into the Camino application package (into mozilla/camino/build/Camino.app/Contents/MacOS/components). (This tactic does not work for static builds, which is why they are not recommended for development.) As an alternative, you can make in embedding/config and mozilla/camino again.

Other changes
If you've changed code only within the camino directory, you can rebuild using Xcode. (Again, make sure your build settings match your .mozconfig file).

If you've changed anything outside the camino directory (aside from widget code — see above), you cannot build from inside Xcode, and will need to make -f client.mk from the mozilla directory.

FAQ

Q. Can I build on Mac OS X 10.4 on PowerPC using gcc 4?
A. Yes, with a few caveats. Builds produced with gcc 4 will only run on Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above. Because of this, official Camino releases for PowerPC will continue to be built with gcc 3.3. To use gcc 3.3 on Tiger, simply enter sudo gcc_select 3.3 in a terminal.

The version of gcc 4 that initially shipped with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is a pre-release version and will not build Camino. Users with Xcode 2.0 must either upgrade to Xcode 2.1, which includes a working version of gcc 4, or to switch to gcc 3.3 with sudo gcc_select 3.3.

If you've read this and are still positive that you want to use gcc 4, you must add the following line to the end of your .mozconfig file: ac_add_options --with-macos-sdk=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk

gcc 4 users will also need to create a link to the Shared Menus framework the 10.3.9 SDK if one does not already exist.
$ sudo mkdir -p /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk/Library/Frameworks
$ sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/SharedMenusCocoa.framework /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk/Library/Frameworks

Q. Why can't I get a fresh copy of Camino to build?
A. Despite our best efforts, sometimes the Mozilla or Camino tree is "red," meaning that the source code won't build properly in its current state. Before you pull, you can check the status on <a href="http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/showbuilds.cgi?tree=Camino">Camino's tinderbox</a>. If the Camino tinderbox or the Mac builds or UNIX/Linux builds in the <a href="http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/showbuilds.cgi?tree=SeaMonkey">Mozilla (aka SeaMonkey)</a> or <a href="http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/showbuilds.cgi?tree=Firefox">Firefox</a> tinderboxes are red, you probably should avoid checking out.

If your build fails, just wait until things go green again and repull Camino.

(Confused? Here's an <a href="/development/programming/#tinderbox">introduction to Tinderbox</a>).

Q. I get a link error when building Camino.
A. This has most likely occurred because you are building from within Xcode and have set up .mozconfig for an optimized build and Xcode for a debug build, or the other way around. Follow the instructions above to set your build mode in both .mozconfig and Xcode. Or just build from the command line using make -f client.mk.

Q. My Camino build crashes at startup — what's wrong?
A. Again, you probably built one piece optimized and the other in debug mode. Make sure they match and try again.

Q. I get errors that the Camino build failed at some <CopyFilesX> where X is some number.
A. Usually this is because you forgot to make in embedding/config after making code changes. Follow the instructions carefully, and try again.

Q. What if I still can't get Camino to build?
A. There are two places to go for help building Camino:

• The <a href="irc://irc.mozilla.org/#camino>#camino</a> IRC channel at irc.mozilla.org is a good place to find some Mac weenies in real time who, if you ask nicely and don't be a pest, will happily get you on your way.
• For non-real-time build help, the <a href="http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum?f=12">Camino forum at MozillaZine</a> has a number of regulars who can usually solve your build woes.