Michael Adeyeye (Ph.D)

Building FF 3.0.4 on Ubuntu 8.04 was with no hassle. I made no change to the .mozconfig file; rather, I was asked to upgrade library “cairo” from 1.5.x to 1.6.x (or any higher version). I couldn’t do so from the Synaptic Manager; so, I had to download and install cairo_1.6.0.orig.tar.gz.
Lest I forget, when building FF, you need to be very patient. It takes very long time to make shared library “libgklayout.so.” Your PC might appear hung or the build process might seem unsuccessful. All you need is give the process some time depending on your PC configuration.

I finally built FF 2.0.0.18 on Ubuntu 8.04 – the Hardy Heron. I knew it would not be a piece of cake building FF 2.0.0.x on Ubuntu 8.x. The problem started with getting the build requirements (i.e. apt dependent packages). I knew from the outset that I was going to get tons of build errors, which would be related to the display or rendering of images. The libraries responsible for these errors would be libcairo and pango. I had to downgrade the versions of these libraries. “sudo aptitude” could not help because the needed versions were no longer available in the nearest Ubuntu software repository. I separately downloaded and installed the packages – libcairo_1.5.4.orig.tar.gz and pango-1.20.5.tar.gz.

While installing those packages resolved quite a number of problems, I still encountered many build errors, such as “could not read symbols: Memory exhausted,” and “final_link_failed.” The former was fixed using “sudo make -f client.mk build,” and the latter was resolved by adding “ac_cv_visibility_pragma=no” to my .mozconfig file. When I was trying to fix libcairo/pango problem, I also added some options – “ac_add_options disable–canvas” and “ac_add_options –enable-system-cairo” – to my .mozconfig file.

Here are the contents of my .mozconfig file.

. $topsrcdir/browser/config/mozconfig
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/obj-@CONFIG_GUESS@
ac_cv_visibility_pragma=no
ac_add_options –disable-javaxpcom
ac_add_options –disable-optimize
ac_add_options –enable-debug
ac_add_options –disable-static
ac_add_options –enable-shared
ac_add_options –disable-tests
ac_add_options –disable-canvas
ac_add_options –enable-system-cairo
ac_add_options –enable-extensions=default

References:

• I needed to run “sudo apt-get install build-essential” in order to fix this error: “C++ compiler cannot create executables.”
• To fix gtk+2 lib. issue, go to http://lists.debian.org/debian-russian/2008/06/msg00412.html
• Cairo issue — https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387239
• Canvas issue — https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=465445 — Got the error fixed by adding “ac_add_options disable–canvas” to my .mozconfig
• “final_link_failed” / NSGLUE_WARNING error http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/blog/2005-10-27/gcc-40-workaround/ — Got the error fixed by adding “ac_cv_visibility_pragma=no” to my .mozconfig http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/blog/2006-03-28/gcc-and-visibility-one-step-forward-hit-a-brick-wall/

These fixes are the only ones I could recall now, but I did more than what I have mentioned here. I look forward to building FF 3.0.0.x on Ubuntu 8.x. I already know that building FF 3.0.0.x requires libcairo2; so, I do need to upgrade some of the installed packages.

There are not so many things to talk about. However, I would say it was fun. I could say I am now “Master’s Degrees holder” but not “A Master’s Degree Holder.” What I mean is that I just finished my second Master’s degree. The first one was M.Eng., which I earned from Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria; and the second, which I just earned, is M.Sc.(Eng.). This second one has just been earned from University of Cape Town, and I will be continuing my studies in the same institution to earn a Ph.D. So help me God!!

Walking away from the Podium