Build of Mozilla failed

[Bram Moolenaar]

Joe Marcus Clarke wrote:

> On Wed, 2004-01-21 at 16:15, Bram Moolenaar wrote:
> > I tried to build Mozilla 1.6 with the port in /usr/ports/www/mozilla.
> > This failed with this message:
> >=20
> > checking for gmake... /usr/local/bin/gmake
> > configure: error: GNU Make 3.78 or higher is required to build Mozilla.
> > =3D=3D=3D>  Script "configure" failed unexpectedly.
> > Please report the problem to gnome at FreeBSD.org [maintainer] and attach th=
> e
> > "/usr/ports/www/mozilla/work/mozilla/config.log" including the output of =
> the
> > failure of your make command. Also, it might be a good idea to provide an
> > overview of all packages installed on your system (e.g. an `ls /var/db/pk=
> g`).
> > *** Error code 1
> >=20
> > Looks like a dependency is missing.  I build /usr/ports/devel/gmake
> > (version 3.80) and then it continued.
> 
> Running portupgrade -ra before installing new ports can really help
> eliminate problems like this.  Or, I've been told, using portinstall -N
> <portname> when installing new ports also takes care of problems such as
> this.

It's also a wonderful way of messing up your system in an uncontrolled
way.  And it takes many hours to run.  I'm already experiencing lots of
trouble from port dependencies.  There's just too many of them!  I once
experienced installing a seemingly harmless port started building a new
gcc...  Took half a day to complete.

> > % uname -a
> > FreeBSD masaka.moolenaar.net 4.8-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE #1: Mon Oct =
> 27 21:44:22 CET 2003     mool at masaka.moolenaar.net:/usr/src/sys/compile/MAS=
> AKA  i386
> >=20
> > BTW: It's not easy to decide which version to build.  Isn't there some
> > documentation about what the advantages of each version are?  Esp. for
> > the Linux versions.
> 
> The mozilla* ports themselves are pretty straightforward.  mozilla is
> the latest stable release whereas mozilla-devel is the latest
> bleeding-edge release (currently obsolete until 1.7a comes out).  These
> are native FreeBSD browsers, and as such, may not support all of the
> plug-ins that their Linux counterparts do.
> 
> Therefore, if you need some of the more advanced Linux plug-ins with
> your browser, you should consider installing the Linux versions of
> Mozilla or Netscape 7.

% ls /usr/ports/www | grep mozilla
flashplugin-mozilla
flashplugin-mozilla-devel
linux-mozilla
linux-mozilla-devel
linux-mozillafirebird
linux-mozillafirebird-el
mozilla
mozilla-bonobo
mozilla-devel
mozilla-devel-gtk2
mozilla-firebird
mozilla-gtk2

That raises these questions:

- What is the difference between mozilla-devel and mozillafirebird?
- I have some trouble with the ordinary mozilla, will this be solved by
  installing mozilla-devel or mozillafirebird?
- What are the -gtk2 and -bonobo versions?  Are they better?
- What is the "-el" version?
- Do I have to try them all out to be able to decide what works for me?
- If I do that, can they exist next to each other or do I need to
  uninstall before trying out another one?

Would be very nice if there is a page on www.freebsd.org that explains
all this.

I already discovered that flashplugin-mozilla stinks.  And it appears to
be slow.  I went back to my Netscape 7.1 (linux version) for now.  But I
can't manage to make Java work with that one, while it does work with
mozilla (native).

Sigh.  Why is it so difficult to get a reasonably working system...

-- 
Veni, Vidi, VW -- I came, I saw, I drove around in a little car.

 /// Bram Moolenaar -- Bram at Moolenaar.net -- http://www.Moolenaar.net   \\\
///        Sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ \\\
\\\              Project leader for A-A-P -- http://www.A-A-P.org        ///
 \\\  Help AIDS victims, buy here: http://ICCF-Holland.org/click1.html  ///