[plug] ./configure

[Lance Duivenbode]

Hi Richard,

I've been caught by this before. From what I remember (it was >3 months 
ago!) Mozilla builds do not use ./configure. Instead you edit a 
configuration file (usually client.mk) and then run:

    make -f client.mk

See the following links for more details:

    http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Build_Documentation (general 
info and main starting point)
    http://www.mozilla.org/build/distribution.html (how you can obtain a 
pre-existing configuration file)

I would recommend against this path though as it can be a real pain - 
especially when you get 95% of the way through compilation (which is not 
short) and you discover something needs something you didn't require! If 
you do decide to go down this path, the Online Build Configurator link 
under the 'Random FAQs and Developer Documentation)' section is very 
useful as it explains all the options and then generates the 
configuration file for you based on the options you specify.

Cheers,
Lance

Richard Yellin wrote:
> Hi All the best for 2008 to plug members
> I can't install the thunderbird source code. I'll explain with some 
> background comments before putting my Q. below
> I was using Opera for linux (9.5, but many earlier versions too) as my 
> MTA from the mail server on Westnet, and recently had authentication 
> problems for my IMAP account and couldn't download my new email.
> (The message was "CRAM=MD5 authentication refused, incoming IMAP")
> I have solved that by switching to OperaMail, cancelling the IMAP and 
> using a POP account with Auto authentication.
>
> With no new email, I decided to install Firefox and Thunderbird for 
> the first time. After g'zipping and untarring with -zxvf 
> thunderbird-2.0.0.9.tar.gz in my d/load directory ..~/.opera/download 
> and doing cd thunderbird (checked with ls) this problem arose:
>
> rhyellin at richi [~/.opera/download]$ cd thunderbird
> rhyellin at richi [~/.opera/download/thunderbird]$ ./configure
> bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
> rhyellin at richi [~/.opera/download/thunderbird]$
>
> Question (at last)   Would someone please explain why "./configure" 
> won't start
>
> I have puzzled over this for 2 or 3 days and looked up a few linux 
> books and articles but they don't seem to touch on this.  In the past 
> I have always been able to install and configure source code.
> Many thanks