Tài liệu Appendix A. Getting and Building the Mozilla Source doc

Appendix A. Getting and Building the Mozilla Source

One of the best things about using Mozilla as an application development

framework is that you don't need to get involved with the Mozilla source

code to create a Mozilla application. A simple Mozilla binary that you

download and install is the only development platform you need. You can

create and use most procedures and samples described in this book with a

precompiled version of the browser.

The best way to get a working version of Mozilla quickly is to download a

precompiled binary for your platform. If you go to the mozilla.org

homepage, you will find links to Mozilla's most recent stable milestone build

for each platform and a link to the nightly development snapshot builds.

These binaries come as compressed archives or with an installer, and you

can use either to run Mozilla on your computer within a few minutes. These

binaries don't include the source for Mozilla (unless you count the XUL,

CSS, and JavaScript that made up the front end, which are always available),

so read on if you want to obtain the code.

Under the relevant license terms, the Mozilla source code is freely available

to anyone who has an Internet connection and a desire to explore. You may

want to look at this code out of curiosity or dive into the code as you figure

out how it works and can be improved. Whatever your reasons are for

looking at the Mozilla source, it is not much more difficult to get the code

and build it yourself than it is to download the precompiled binaries. To get

started, you need to know a few things about how to get and use the source.

A.1. Getting the Source Code

You can get the Mozilla source code in a few different ways. Depending on

what you are interested in doing, one method may work better for you than

another. This appendix provides basic information about how to get the

source, but you can also find information about this topic on the Mozilla site

at http://www.mozilla.org/source.html.

If you want to look at the source code and don't intend to recompile it,

experiment with it, or update it at all, the best way to get at the source is to

browse the Mozilla code base with Mozilla Cross Reference (LXR). As you

can see in Figure A-1, LXR is a web-based source code browsing tool

located at http://lxr.mozilla.org. LXR is also hooked up to other tools, such

as Bonsai (http://bonsai.mozilla.org) and the various tinderboxen

(http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/showbuilds.cgi). Together, these tools create a

powerful code maintenance system that is used widely by Mozilla

developers.

Figure A-1. Mozilla Cross Reference code browsing tool