README.txt

Open Komodo Development README
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Introduction
============

This README.txt tells you how to get started building, using and
developing with the Open Komodo source base. Currently this basically
means building Komodo Edit (the once free-as-in-beer, now also
free-as-in-speech Komodo editor).

Komodo is based on Mozilla, so prepare yourself for some serious build
time. If you have trouble with any of the following instructions please
log a bug:
<http://bugs.activestate.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Komodo>


I'm lazy, just show me how to build it
======================================

If any of these steps break, please first look at the full instructions
below (especially the "prerequisites" sections).

Build steps on Windows (creating a Komodo 8.10 version):

    REM ---- Build Mozilla
    cd openkomodo\mozilla
    setenv-moz-msvc11.bat
    python build.py configure -k 8.10
    python build.py distclean all
    cd ..
    REM ---- Build Komodo, version (8.10) must match between Komodo and Mozilla
    set PATH=util\black;%PATH%
    bk configure -V 8.10.0-devel
    bk build
    REM ---- Run Komodo
    bk run

Build steps on Linux and Mac OS X:

    #---- Build Mozilla
    cd openkomodo/mozilla
    python build.py configure -k 8.10
    python build.py distclean all
    cd ..
    #---- Build Komodo, version (8.10) must match between Komodo and Mozilla
    export PATH=`pwd`/util/black:$PATH   # Komodo's "bk" build tool
    bk configure -V 8.10.0-devel
    bk build
    #---- Run Komodo
    bk run



Getting the Source
==================

If you are reading this, you probably already have it, but for the record:
The Open Komodo sources are kept in a Subversion repository hosted
at the openkomodo.com site. Read-only public access is available via:

    svn co http://svn.openkomodo.com/repos/openkomodo/trunk openkomodo

Read/write developer access is available via:

    svn co https://svn.openkomodo.com/repos/openkomodo/trunk openkomodo

The source code is also available (mirrored) on GitHub:

   https://github.com/ActiveState/komodoedit
   git clone https://github.com/ActiveState/komodoedit.git


Build Prerequisites for Windows
===============================

- Python >=2.7 (but not Python 3.x yet). You can install ActivePython from here:
  <http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePython/releases/>

- Visual C++ 11.0 (aka Visual Studio 2012) and all the Platform SDKs for
  building Mozilla with vc11 as described here:
    http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Windows_Build_Prerequisites  
  All of Komodo's core runtime C/C++ is built with Visual C++ 11.0.
  
- Install the latest "MozillaBuild-$ver.exe" package into *the default dir*
  (i.e. "C:\mozilla-build").
  <http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/libraries/win32/>

- Install the latest ActivePerl.

  <http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePerl/releases/>

  ActivePerl is currently required for the Komodo-part of the build
  (where the "Mozilla-part of the build" is the other part). The
  MozillaBuild package (previous step) *does* include a Perl 5.6 build,
  but it is a mingw-built Perl that the Komodo build system cannot use.



Build Prerequisites for Mac OS X
================================

- Python >=2.7 (but not Python 3.x yet). You can install ActivePython from here:
  <http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePython/releases/>

  If you prefer the Python builds from python.org should be sufficient
  as well.

- Xcode. Install the latest one.

  <http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/>

- Xcode Command Line Tools.

  Open the Xcode preferences, then in the Downloads tab, select and install the
  Command Line Tools.

- MacPorts (<http://www.macports.org/>).

  (Note: Fink may work too but most of the build testing and instructions is
  done with MacPorts.)

- autoconf v2.13. Once you have MacPorts installed you need just run::

    sudo port install autoconf213

- ensure you are using clang or gcc 4.2 (or higher)::

See <http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mac_OS_X_Build_Prerequisites>
for more details on Mac OS X build prerequisites. However, following the
above steps is *meant to be sufficient* to get building Komodo.


Build Prerequisites for Linux
=============================

- Python >=2.7 (but not Python 3.x yet). You can install ActivePython from here:
  <http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePython/releases/>

  If you prefer, your distro's Python 2.7 should be sufficient.

- Everything mentioned in the Mozilla Linux build prerequisites:

  <http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Linux_Build_Prerequisites>



Prerequisite packages by Distro
-------------------------------

This section is intended to give Linux distro-specific package manager steps
for installing all build prerequisites. If you have info for distros not
listed here and/or corrections, please start a Documentation bug for this:

    <http://bugs.activestate.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Komodo&component=Documentation>


- Ubuntu:
    sudo apt-get build-dep firefox

- Fedora 9:

    sudo yum install gcc-c++ patch gtk2-devel libIDL-devel libcurl-devel

- Others ...

  Please add a bug (http://bugs.activestate.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Komodo)
  if you know the package-prerequisite install steps for another particular
  distro. Thanks!




Building
========

Komodo is made up of:

- a Python build for the Mozilla PyXPCOM extension
- a Mozilla build (with a number of Komodo-specific patches)
- the Komodo-specific build bits: mostly chrome (XUL, JS, ...) and
  PyXPCOM components (Python)


Step 1: Building Python
-----------------------

Currently the Komodo source tree includes *prebuilt* Python binaries
in `mozilla/prebuilt/python2.7`. Basically these are vanilla Python 2.7
builds with the following tweaks:

- [Windows] a patch to disable looking in the registry for sys.path info
- [Windows] built with VC11 (atypical of all current Python distros)
- [Mac OS X] a patch to the Python frameworks bin/python stub to allow
  running `python` in this framework without it having to be installed
  in one of the standard "/Library/Frameworks",
  "/System/Library/Frameworks" locations.
- The builds are shared (atypical of some Linux Python builds)

Currently these are ActivePython builds. However, the plan is to update
the Komodo build system to support building its own Python from sources
rather than relying on a prebuilt ActivePython.


Step 2: Building Mozilla
------------------------

This'll take a while but, unless you are doing some lower-level hacking
for Komodo, you should only need to do this once (in a while).

1. Get into the correct dir:

        cd mozilla

2. (Windows-only) Setup your environment for building.

   - If you installed MozillaBuild into a directory other than
     "c:\mozilla-build", shame on you. Tell the build where it is:
     
        set MOZILLABUILD=...\path\to\your\mozillabuild\base

   - If you have cygwin installed, shame on you (consider MSYS instead).
     Ensure that your PATH does not contain any cygwin executables or
     DLLs.

   - Setup your Mozilla environment:

        setenv-moz-msvc11.bat

3. Configure for the mozilla build. You'll want to use something like:

        python build.py configure -k 8.10

   What this configure-step does is create a "config.py" file that guides
   the build step (next). This is akin to the "./configure" in the common
   "./configure; make; make install" build trinity.
   
   Run `python build.py -h configure` for more details.

4. Build away:

        python build.py all
    
   This will take a long time, but you should have a usable Mozilla
   build when it is done.



Step 3: Building Komodo
-----------------------

1. Get the in-house `bk` (a.k.a. Black -- ask trentm for the history if
   you are curious) tool on you PATH (or a symlink or alias is fine):
   
        cd ..    # move back up from the "mozilla" dir
        export PATH=`pwd`/util/black:$PATH
        
   or, on Windows:
   
        set PATH=path\to\sourcedir\util\black;%PATH%

2. Configure you Komodo build.

   In general the default configuration is fine for a development build:
   
        bk configure
    
   If you built Mozilla above for a Komodo version other than the version
   mentioned in "src/version.txt", then you may have to specify your
   version. E.g. if you configured above with
   "python configure.py -k 8.10 ..." then you'd want something like:
   
        bk configure -V 8.10.0-devel

   Run `bk help configure` for a (somewhat sparse) listing of available
   options.

3. Build away:

        bk build

4. Run Komodo:

        bk run [-v]



The Typical Komodo Build Cycle
==============================

The typical build cycle for Komodo development is:

- edit some files under "src/..."
- `bk build`
- `bk run -v`
- test

While "bk build" should always build everything necessary, it can be a
little slow. For a quicker development cycle you can do:

    bk build quick

This will appropriately rebuild *most* changes to interpreted sources: JS,
Python, CSS, XUL, XBL, DTD. For certain things -- C/C++ changes, new files,
IDL changes -- you still need to run the slower "bk build".



Build Troubleshooting Notes
===========================

- [Windows] The Mozilla build fails with::

        target: patch from ['patches-new']
        preprocess: warn: defaulting content type for 'patches-new\mozilla-2.0\silo-mo
        zilla-profiles.ppatch' to 'Text'
        preprocess: warn: defaulting content type for 'patches-new\mozilla-2.0\silo-mo
        zilla-runtime.ppatch' to 'Text'
        Traceback (most recent call last):
          File "build.py", line 3199, in <module>
            sys.exit( main(sys.argv) )
          File "build.py", line 3195, in main
            return build(args)
          File "build.py", line 3019, in build
            newArgv = targetFunc(argv)
          File "build.py", line 2711, in target_all
            target_patch()
          File "build.py", line 2754, in target_patch
            patchExe=patchExe)
          File "..\util\patchtree.py", line 760, in patch
            patchArgs=action[3])
          File "..\util\patchtree.py", line 395, in _assertCanApplyPatch
            stdout, stderr, retval = _run(argv, cwd=sourceDir, stdin=patchContent)
          File "..\util\patchtree.py", line 157, in _run
            stderr=subprocess.PIPE, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
          File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 633, in __init__
            errread, errwrite)
          File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 842, in _execute_child
            startupinfo)
        WindowsError: [Error 740] The requested operation requires elevation

  This is a problem with an attempt to use "patch.exe" and Windows refusing
  to run it witout elevated privs. It is doing so because of a boneheaded
  heuristic. Details here:
  <http://butnottoohard.blogspot.com/2010/01/windows-7-chronicles-gnu-patch-mtexe.html>

  The solution is to explicitly mark this executable to request those privs.

        cd komodo\mozilla
        setenv-moz-msvc11.bat      (if you haven't already)
        cd bin-win32
        mt -manifest patch.exe.manifest -outputresource:patch.exe;1

  Note: We *have* applied this to patch.exe in the Komodo source tree, but
  for some reason it rears its ugly head time and again. Don't know why.

- [Windows 7] The Mozilla build fails with::

        checking whether the C++ compiler (cl  ) works... rm: cannot lstat `conftest.exe': Permission denied

  The following discussion thread seems to indicate that this problem "goes
  away" by one or both of re-starting your command shell and removing the
  mozilla build object dir and re-starting the build.
  <http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.platform/browse_thread/thread/bd1bd1a799835528>

  In my case it worked by simply opening a new "cmd.exe" and re-starting the
  build::

        cd ...\mozilla
        python build.py all

- [Linux] On my Ubuntu Dapper install I had to install "automake1.9" to
  get "aclocal"::
  
    sudo apt-get install automake1.9

- [Linux] On my Ubuntu Dapper box /usr/bin/autoconf is a wrapper that
  defaults to autoconf2.13. PHP 4.3's "phpize" requires autoconf 2.50. I
  had to tweak "~/opt/php/4.3.11/bin/phpize" to use "autoconf2.50" instead
  of bare "autoconf".

- "bk configure" fails.

  If "bk configure" fails, here is how to go about trying to help fix it.
  Background: "bk configure" is doing an autoconf-like thing: gathering a
  bunch of information (guided by command-line options) that is then
  written out to a config file (current "bkconfig.py", "bkconfig.pm" and
  "bkconfig.bat|sh") for use by subsequent build steps. The list of
  config vars being determined is in the "configuration" dict in
  "Blackfile.py" ("bk" == Black, hence make is to Makefile as "bk" is to
  Blackfile.py). The implementation logic for most configuration vars
  is in "bklocal.py" -- one Python class definition per configuration var.
  
  Process to help find the problem:
  1. Look at the "bk configure" output. The error will be after output
     that says "determining BLAH...". Look for that "BLAH" string in
     "bklocal.py" to find the corresponding config var class.
  2. The awkwardly named "_Determine_Do()" method for that class is where
     the value is determined. The failure is probably in there. Feel
     free to put some print statements in there and re-run your
     "bk configure ..." call to try to suss out the problem.
  3. Log a bug:
     <http://bugs.activestate.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=OpenKomodo&component=InternalBuild>
  


Setup to Build a Komodo Installer
=================================

TODO