Building PM on Android

[access2godzilla]

Before I even start trying to do anything, I'd like to ask whether the Pale Moon source tree have the necessary code for building on Android? Or was this code never incorporated into the source tree?

(I'm aware of the fact that both /android and /b2g are present, but perhaps some parts may have been left out?)

[Moonchild]

I kept full Firefox 24 ESR parity, so everything should be there for building on Android. I don't know how the rebranding will take for Android though, it's kind of its own separate sub-tree.
I tried poking at it myself, briefly, but realized I simply don't have the know-how, nor the equipment, to properly build and test Android Apps.

[dark_moon]

With AndoVM it exist a Android VM for VirtualBox.
Tried it and it works.
http://androvm.org/blog/

[access2godzilla]

Seems like the build was successful: only one thing: it doesn't render anything. Where should I look at now?
http://i.imgur.com/tWeYIoO.png

I don't know how the rebranding will take for Android though, it's kind of its own separate sub-tree.

Yes, seems so. I did put in some Pale Moon icons from the /browser/branding folder and got something that can neither be called Firefox nor Pale Moon.
http://i.imgur.com/5WnTUUx.png

I simply don't have the know-how, nor the equipment, to properly build and test Android Apps.

Building was pretty easy, equipment, well, there's Android-x86 as well as Google's own emulator that's distributed within the SDK.

[Moonchild]

Seems like the build was successful: only one thing: it doesn't render anything. Where should I look at now?

Like I said I don't have the know-how for this. I have no clue, since I know absolutely nothing about the way Android works, let alone the graphics subsystem. I can't help you.

got something that can neither be called Firefox nor Pale Moon.

You'll have to look through the branding files and change the application name.
Configure.sh:

Code: Select all

MOZ_APP_DISPLAYNAME=Palemoon

and copy the brand.dtd and brand.properties from the official Pale Moon branding folder (in locales/en-US). That should get you somewhere

[access2godzilla]

It seems that I got the browser to work to that extent is a feat in itself, since Fennec-x86 was experimental. Building for ARM now, let us see how that goes.

BTW, in this "title only browser" that I've managed to build, it seems like about:palemoon won't work, but apparently about:mozilla does (with that memoriam stuff.)

(In any case, these will always be just part of an experiment, I'm not planning on a project or on releases as I've done on Linux.)

[New Tobin Paradigm]

BTW, in this "title only browser" that I've managed to build, it seems like about:palemoon won't work, but apparently about:mozilla does (with that memoriam stuff.)

about:mozilla is implemented in the backend and toolkit code while about:palemoon is implemented solely for /browser/

[access2godzilla]

I've got a working build on ARM
http://i.imgur.com/gvBEykg.png

And it benefits from all the fixes made in these releases, so seems like we can call it Fennec ESR

[Moonchild]

I've got a working build on ARM
http://i.imgur.com/gvBEykg.png

And it benefits from all the fixes made in these releases, so seems like we can call it Fennec ESR

Awesome!

I am very interested in someone building and releasing Pale Moon for Android since I very regularly get that question (especially after the whole CEO debacle). I can probably do it myself if I get myself a tablet to test natively (and if you can help me with the setup, a2g, of how you built it), since you indicated it was mostly an experiment for you and you're not seriously considering a release publish yourself?

Or, if someone else wants to make it a contributed build, that would work too.

[dark_moon]

Can we test your buíld?

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Can we test your buíld?

Yeah I am also willing to trash my phone in the name of SCIENCE!

[access2godzilla]

Can we test your buíld?

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/trm1zgrf3dj2x/palemoon
Only works on ARMv7 and above, and unfortunately, also has Firefox branding.

Yeah I am also willing to trash my phone in the name of SCIENCE!

A basic Fennec build will "trash your phone"? Then I suppose you never root phones or flash custom ROMs on them?

[New Tobin Paradigm]

A basic Fennec build will "trash your phone"? Then I suppose you never root phones or flash custom ROMs on them?

You are correct it won't trash the phone.. but I am still gonna do it.. FOR SCIENCE!

[dark_moon]

Thanks. Will test it when i'm back home tomorrow.

mattatobin's comment was ironic.

[access2godzilla]

if you can help me with the setup, a2g, of how you built it

Sure Start from https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/Android

A few notes:

• Unless you're using Ubuntu, go to the "explained" section directly: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/ ... #Explained
• Get the JDK from Oracle (registration required) or from here or here. Download the file jdk-6u45-linux-<arch>.bin and install it by executing it.
• Append the following in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile:

  Code: Select all

  PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_45/bin:/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_45/jre/bin
  export PATH
  

• I didn't require installing ant or ccache. Fennec builds fine without them, but you'd probably want ccache since it speeds up successive compilations.
• "Usual stuff" is better explained here. Leave out gcc, g++, mercurial, and libcurl4-openssl-dev we won't be needing them.
• The recent version of the ADT bundle is available here: https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html ("Downloads for other platforms").
• The build process searches for aapt and dx in the wrong places, so we need to establish symlinks:

  Code: Select all

  cd ~/adt-bundle-linux/sdk/platform-tools
  ln -s ~/adt-bundle-linux/sdk/build-tools/android-4.4.2/aapt aapt
  ln -s ~/adt-bundle-linux/sdk/build-tools/android-4.4.2/dx dx
  

• I used the following mozconfig, but then you need to do some research:

  Code: Select all

  ac_add_options --enable-application=mobile/android
  ac_add_options --target=arm-linux-androideabi
  
  mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR="$HOME/pmbuild"
  
  ac_add_options --with-android-gnu-compiler-version=4.7
  ac_add_options --with-android-version=9
  ac_add_options --with-system-zlib
  
  ac_add_options --with-branding=mobile/android/branding/beta
  
  ac_add_options --disable-webrtc
  ac_add_options --disable-updater
  
  ac_add_options --disable-tests
  ac_add_options --disable-debug
  ac_add_options --disable-debug-symbols
  ac_add_options --disable-mochitests
  
  ac_add_options --enable-strip
  
  ac_add_options --with-android-ndk="$HOME/android-ndk-r8e"
  ac_add_options --with-android-sdk="$HOME/adt-bundle-linux/sdk/platforms/android-19"
  

• The ADB stuff and "./mach install" can be forgotten for now. Simple copying and installing through the file manager works as well.

Edit: correct typoes + remove installation info not pertaining to NDK emulators.

[Moonchild]

Thanks for the run-down! I see I would have brickwalled a few times without it, so thanks for that
I'll have a FossaMail build to do first, but I'll give it a whirl after, and see if I can get things built and running.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Thanks for the run-down! I see I would have brickwalled a few times without it, so thanks for that
I'll have a FossaMail build to do first, but I'll give it a whirl after, and see if I can get things built and running.

I would like to see what Pale Moonisms get added if this does take off. UI changes, features, optimization... Should be fun!

[access2godzilla]

optimization...

Don't really see any scope for optimisations, since it's already built with -march=armv7-a, and taking it higher than that will cause compatibility problems.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

optimization...

Don't really see any scope for optimisations, since it's already built with -march=armv7-a, and taking it higher than that will cause compatibility problems.

Well optimizing code does not always mean compiler flags.. Could be some chunk of spaghetti code that can be made more efficient in and of its self but I do see your point.

[access2godzilla]

@Moonchild
I know that you're looking for some ARM devices for testing (from the donations page), but in the meantime, is a "work in progress" kind of build possible? Mail&News and PM for Atom had been such "works in progress" for a long time.

As an aside, while it is preferable to have some kind of device to actually test things on, it is not an absolute requirement. Devs use the emulators, because they let you test different configurations. Buying so many devices is not a practical possibility, even if the budget allows it.