Getting Started Building Firefox

What do I need to know?

Install Deps

bootstrap.py

Linux & Mac

  • curl https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/raw-file/default/python/mozboot/bin/bootstrap.py > bootstrap.py && python bootstrap.py
  • ./mach bootstrap
  • Depends on the package manager

Windows

  • Visual Studio 2013 or newer
  • Mozilla Build

mach

Important Commands

  • ./mach build
  • ./mach run
  • ./mach test <module>

Flags

  • mozconfig
  • ac_add_option
  • mk_add_option

Useful autoconf flags

  • --disable-tests
  • --enable-application=browser
  • --enable-debug

External Tools

MDN

dxr

Some Folders

Folder Content
b2g Boot 2 Gecko Platform
browser Firefox Front-end
mobile Firefox for Android
toolkit Shared Components
netwerk Network Code

Mercurial

hg clone https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central

Getting the latest Code

hg pull -u

Creating a Patch

hg qnew bug-fix.patch
hg qref

Standard Commit Message

Bug 123456 - Change this thing to work better by doing something. r=reviewers

Submitting the Patch

  • Assign yourself to the bug if you can
  • Ad the patch as a new attachment
  • Assign a reviewer

Wait

See Also

Getting Started Building Firefox

By Martin Giger

Getting Started Building Firefox

How to set up your (Linux) computer for Firefox development. This includes a brief introduction to used tools (hg, mach etc.) and useful resources (dxr, mdn etc.).

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