Headaches compiling Firefox 1.0.7
 

Finally, after 2 days of going through library and linking hell, I finally got Firefox 1.0.7 compiled from the sources on my Debian box. I came across some problems which required patches, such as a patch to the most recent FreeType-2.1.9 and another random patch to fix some type issues (like 'PRUint32' not existing).

I finally got to linking, and hit a brick wall. It kept coming up with multiply defined symbols during final linking:

../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o): In function `nsTypeAheadFind::QueryInterface(nsID const&, void**)':
nsTypeAheadFind.o(.text+0x750): multiple definition of `nsTypeAheadFind::QueryInterface(nsID const&, void**)'
../../dist/lib/components/libtoolkitcomps.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o)(.text+0x6d0): first defined here
/usr/bin/ld: Warning: size of symbol `nsTypeAheadFind::QueryInterface(nsID const&, void**)' changed from 205 to 730 in ../../dist/lib/components/
../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o): In function `nsTypeAheadFind::AddRef()':
nsTypeAheadFind.o(.text+0x1d0): multiple definition of `nsTypeAheadFind::AddRef()'
../../dist/lib/components/libtoolkitcomps.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o)(.text+0x50): first defined here
../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o): In function `nsTypeAheadFind::Release()':
nsTypeAheadFind.o(.text+0x1e0): multiple definition of `nsTypeAheadFind::Release()'
../../dist/lib/components/libtoolkitcomps.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o)(.text+0x60): first defined here
../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o): In function `nsTypeAheadFind::~nsTypeAheadFind()':
nsTypeAheadFind.o(.text+0x3250): multiple definition of `nsTypeAheadFind::~nsTypeAheadFind()'
../../dist/lib/components/libtoolkitcomps.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o)(.text+0x3220): first defined here
/usr/bin/ld: Warning: size of symbol `nsTypeAheadFind::~nsTypeAheadFind()' changed from 369 to 564 in ../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.
../../dist/lib/components/libtypeaheadfind.a(nsTypeAheadFind.o): In function `nsTypeAheadFind::~nsTypeAheadFind()':

the only way to fix it was to disable extensions, which leaves me with a crippled firefox.

Anyone seen this before? I saw a few references to it other places on the web, but no answers.

thanks,
-dave

hmm, there is a newer version of firefox now.........v1.5
you might try it instead of v1.07

Why not use a prebuilt binary?

I don't know if this helps but,
I have never compiled Firefox on linux.
I always grab a tarball from mozilla's ftp,
extract it to /usr/local, then link /usr/local/firefox/firefox
to /usr/local/bin/firefox.
Firefox can then be started with the command
or added to whatever menu you use.
Plugins can be installed to /usr/local/firefox/plugins .
I'm not talking about a source tarball of course, they
offer prebuilts as well.
I've always done it this way since 0.8, and I'm running 1.5
now with no probs.
This is on Slackware 10.2

no prebuilts!
 

I usually build everything that I can to make sure that I have bug free copies. In my experience, it's less of a headache to build something from source than it is to install the packages. That's assuming you've got all the libraries installed, that is. In this case the firefox installer wouldn't work on my debian machine, so I figured building it would be just as easy.

It turns out that I wasn't building the most recent version. It built cleanly eventually, but the extensions still don't work. I tried installing some extensions but it refuses to show up in the extensions list.

what options are you using? I've just successfully built 1.0.7 for my redhat 7.3 box, but I had to compile a static only build. Also, from the build instructions, if you don't specify extensions, the build process will pick the best extension option for you.

So if you're specifying the extensions in the configure stage, try to leave out that option and let the build system choose the 'proper' extension set.

Like you, I myself, most of the time would rather build from source, but, I have to honestly say, imo, building mozilla products is one of the most unenjoyable things to do.