OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: Neil Waldhauer on November 16, 2020, 02:19:09 am

Title: How to install Firefox
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on November 16, 2020, 02:19:09 am
Is there a web page that explains how to install Firefox on ArcaOS? I know someone who would like to install it, but needs something fairly user-friendly.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 16, 2020, 05:14:01 am
Which version of Arca Noae? I assume one that shipped with FF38ESR. Just unzip 45.9ESR into its own directory and use ANPM to update everything and install Hunspell and optionally the FFmpeg libs and create a program object for it.
Ideally mark the Firefox DLLs high and install ffturbo including creating a program object that has cmd.exe as the program, /c detach path\to\ffturbo -l -p in the parameters and the working directory pointing to where ffturbo is installed.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Martin Iturbide on November 16, 2020, 03:39:21 pm
Hi Neil

Maybe you can recycle something from this article: https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_Install_Firefox_on_Warp_4.52 (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_Install_Firefox_on_Warp_4.52)

Regards
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on November 16, 2020, 03:42:07 pm
Which version of Arca Noae? I assume one that shipped with FF38ESR. Just unzip 45.9ESR into its own directory and use ANPM to update everything and install Hunspell and optionally the FFmpeg libs and create a program object for it.
Ideally mark the Firefox DLLs high and install ffturbo including creating a program object that has cmd.exe as the program, /c detach path\to\ffturbo -l -p in the parameters and the working directory pointing to where ffturbo is installed.

Is 45.9ESR hosted someplace? I can put your instructions on a webpage and host the Firefox binary if no one else has done it.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Lars on November 16, 2020, 03:47:26 pm
Here it is:
https://github.com/bitwiseworks/mozilla-os2/releases/tag/FIREFOX_45_9_0esr_RELEASE_OS2_GA2 (https://github.com/bitwiseworks/mozilla-os2/releases/tag/FIREFOX_45_9_0esr_RELEASE_OS2_GA2)
It contains the download links. But you are all on your own. Need to unzip the .7z and copy the files to the proper directories.
But that page also contains a description of what to do.
Really this should all be wrapped up in either a WPI or a ZIP, including some install command file.



Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 16, 2020, 04:38:29 pm
I've updated the latest builds to Hobbes, currently in incoming, as I can't seem to upload to Bitbucket anymore, between crappy internet and getting a "have to solve the captcha" message, even on other platforms.
The builds on Hobbes are built with GCC 9.9.2 and had some memory related changes to compile and be stable. I find them stable.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on November 16, 2020, 04:50:12 pm
I thought there was a Firefox RPM package out there...and if the person has the AOS subscription and/or access they were supposed to be able to just deploy in that fashion...no?

In fact I see it out there on the arcanoa-exp repo, see firefox-en_US.45.9.0-7, could that approach work?
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Eugene Tucker on November 16, 2020, 05:49:42 pm
Be careful with upgrading and  the profile location has moved. It wiped out my bookmarks.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 16, 2020, 06:36:05 pm
Be careful with upgrading and  the profile location has moved. It wiped out my bookmarks.

Hasn't changed for 45.9. Newer Firefox now uses a different profile every time you upgrade. 45.9 will use %HOME% if %MOZILLA_HOME% is not set. Your old profile should still be there.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Eugene Tucker on November 16, 2020, 07:45:35 pm
Yes that was the problem fortunately it was my test laptop. that you Dave.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Lars on November 17, 2020, 01:30:59 am
I thought there was a Firefox RPM package out there...and if the person has the AOS subscription and/or access they were supposed to be able to just deploy in that fashion...no?

In fact I see it out there on the arcanoa-exp repo, see firefox-en_US.45.9.0-7, could that approach work?

Yes, but I am not using ArcaOS and the RPM is "ArcaOS users only".
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on November 17, 2020, 02:23:00 am
Hi Lars,

Yes, but I am not using ArcaOS and the RPM is "ArcaOS users only".

My comment was a response to Neil's original post, in which he stated:

Quote
...Is there a web page that explains how to install Firefox on ArcaOS?...

And so given that this install was to be done on ArcaOS I figured it would pretty much guarantee that the end-user in question would therefore have access to AN software releases. From an "ease of install" perspective you can't really get any better than RPM (if all goes right)!
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on November 17, 2020, 04:20:49 am
Thanks for the idea about the Firefox RPM. I forgot about that. So I tried to find it. Unluckily, I tried this:



 (https://www.arcanoae.com/?s=firefox[/url)
Quote
Where%u2019s the new Firefox?

We%u2019ve received a few inquiries regarding the availability of Firefox 45.9 ESR. Please note that we have not yet released Firefox 45 due to some final performance and stability issues which we are working hard to address. Please be patient, and we hope to have a release for general availability in the very near future.

I tried ANPM, but no Firefox there. There is firefox-highmem from bitwise.

Quote
The purpose of this utility is to load Firefox DLLs in the upper meomry arena.

I remember there was going to be a secure repository, but I can't remember where it is. In any case, there should be a way to install Firefox even for those without a subscription.

Thanks, Dave for uploading Firefox to Hobbes. This is the URL for the pentium M version in incoming, until it moves to a more conventional spot.

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/incoming/firefox-45.9.0.en-US.os2-Pentium-m-9.9.2-08112020.zip (https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/incoming/firefox-45.9.0.en-US.os2-Pentium-m-9.9.2-08112020.zip)

This zip file has the excellent readme file, so the thread is going well from my point of view. This Firefox build is also newer than the one in ArcaOS 5.0.6.

[Edit: changed URL to Pentium-M version] :)
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 05:32:04 am
I'd strongly recommend using the Pentium M build unless installing on a Pentium II or III or Athlon prior to the Athlon64. The Pentium M is basically an i686 with MMX, SSE and SSE2 added and I've also optimized it more, using SSE for math functions and tuning for a Core2, which might help for multicore machines and shouldn't hurt.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on November 17, 2020, 03:07:42 pm
ohhh Dave....

I'd strongly recommend using the Pentium M build unless installing on a Pentium II or III or Athlon prior to the Athlon64. The Pentium M is basically an i686 with MMX, SSE and SSE2 added and I've also optimized it more, using SSE for math functions and tuning for a Core2, which might help for multicore machines and shouldn't hurt.

Any chance you might do an updated build of my fave??? (Phenom II - '-march=amdfam10 -O2')  8)
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on November 17, 2020, 04:02:25 pm
The firefox readme would make a good web page for the product.

The MozTurbo installation should be handled with care. Depending on the version of ArcaOS, there may already be one in \sys\apps\anturbo
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 04:09:44 pm
If there is, it also means you already have FF45 installed.
To update, run Programs-->Installed Software-->Firefox-->FFTurbo uninstall. Move the existing Firefox program directory out of the way, unzip new one in its place and run FFturbo install.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 04:11:27 pm
Any chance you might do an updated build of my fave??? (Phenom II - '-march=amdfam10 -O2')  8)

Sure, I could after I finish with rebuilding Thunderbird.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: OS4User on November 17, 2020, 04:39:25 pm
I've also optimized it more, using SSE for math functions and tuning for a Core2, which might help for multicore machines and shouldn't hurt.

Any chance to see AVX build sometime ?
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 09:02:31 pm
Any chance to see AVX build sometime ?

Same answer, except I lost that configuration so it would help if you open about:buildconfig and post the optimization I used. IIRC, it was -march=sandybridge.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: OS4User on November 17, 2020, 09:17:22 pm
Any chance to see AVX build sometime ?

Same answer, except I lost that configuration so it would help if you open about:buildconfig and post the optimization I used. IIRC, it was -march=sandybridge.

I do not have AVX equipment and never had   AVX FF.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 09:26:21 pm
OK, still have the problem that I lost the configuration after a crash.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on November 17, 2020, 09:40:51 pm
RPM_REQUIREMENTS is incomplete.

I can run Firefox afterward, but not Thunderbird. I had to also use ANPM to install libvpx-legacy-2 and libvpx-legacy-4
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 10:00:53 pm
RPM_REQUIREMENTS is incomplete.

I can run Firefox afterward, but not Thunderbird. I had to also use ANPM to install libvpx-legacy-2 and libvpx-legacy-4

OK, the Thunderbird I'll upload later should use libvpx-legacy-4.
The problem is the RPM requirements are a moving target as new incompatible builds come out and older libraries move to legacy versions. Next are the FFmpeg libs where for Mozilla the legacy version will need installing.
Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: OS4User on November 17, 2020, 10:31:13 pm
Any chance to see AVX build sometime ?

Same answer, except I lost that configuration so it would help if you open about:buildconfig and post the optimization I used. IIRC, it was -march=sandybridge.

Build platform
target
i386-pc-os2-emx
Build tools
Compiler    Version    Compiler flags

gcc.exe    5.5.0    -Wall -Wempty-body -Wpointer-to-int-cast -Wsign-compare -Wtype-limits -Wno-unused -Wcast-align -Zomf -std=gnu99 -fgnu89-inline -fno-strict-aliasing -Zomf -fno-math-errno -pthread

c++    5.5.0    -idirafter g:/OS2TK45/h -Wall -Wempty-body -Woverloaded-virtual -Wsign-compare -Wwrite-strings -Wno-invalid-offsetof -Wcast-align -fno-exceptions -fno-strict-aliasing -Zomf -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -fno-math-errno -std=gnu++0x -pthread -DNDEBUG -DTRIMMED -g -march=sandybridge -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer

Configure arguments

--enable-application=browser '--enable-optimize=-march=sandybridge -O2' --disable-debug --enable-debug-symbols --disable-tests --enable-os2-high-mem --without-x --enable-system-cairo --enable-system-pixman --with-intl-api --with-system-icu --with-system-zlib --with-system-nss --with-system-nspr --with-system-libvpx --disable-startupcache

Title: Re: How to install Firefox
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 17, 2020, 11:18:40 pm
OK, thanks. Forgot that I had to disable the startup cache to succeed at make package. Xpcshell was crashing with a sigill IIRC.