Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 8.4

Chapter 41. Other X-based Programs

Thunderbird-60.5.2

Introduction to Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a stand-alone mail/news client based on the Mozilla codebase. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to enable it to display and compose HTML emails.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.4 platform.

Package Information

Thunderbird Dependencies

Required

Autoconf-2.13, both GTK+-3.24.5 and GTK+-2.24.32, LLVM-7.0.1, rustc-1.32.0, Zip-3.0, UnZip-6.0, and yasm-1.3.0

Recommended

ICU-63.1, libevent-2.1.8, NSPR-4.20, NSS-3.42.1, and SQLite-3.27.1

[Note]

Note

If you don't install recommended dependencies, then internal copies of those packages will be used. They might be tested to work, but they can be out of date or contain security holes.

Optional

Cyrus SASL-2.1.27, dbus-glib-0.110, Doxygen-1.8.15, GConf-3.2.6, PulseAudio-12.2, startup-notification-0.12, Wget-1.20.1, Wireless Tools-29, and Hunspell

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/Thunderbird

Installation of Thunderbird

[Note]

Note

The build process for Thunderbird can use 8GB+ of RAM when linking. Make sure that you have adequate swap or RAM before continuing.

The configuration of Thunderbird is accomplished by creating a mozconfig file containing the desired configuration options. A default mozconfig is created below. To see the entire list of available configuration options (and a brief description of each), issue mozilla/configure --help. Create the file with the following command: 

cat > mozconfig << "EOF"
# If you have a multicore machine, the build may be faster if using parallel
# jobs. The build system automatically adds -jN to the "make" flags, where N
# is the number of CPU cores. The option below is therefore useless, unless
# you want to use a smaller number of jobs:
#mk_add_options MOZ_MAKE_FLAGS="-j1"

# If you have installed dbus-glib, comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-dbus

# If you have installed wireless-tools comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-necko-wifi

# Uncomment these lines if you have installed optional dependencies:
#ac_add_options --enable-system-hunspell
#ac_add_options --enable-startup-notification

# Comment out following option if you have PulseAudio installed
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio

# Comment out following option if you have gconf installed
ac_add_options --disable-gconf

# If you want to compile the Mozilla Calendar, uncomment this line:
#ac_add_options --enable-calendar

# Comment out following options if you have not installed
# recommended dependencies:
ac_add_options --enable-system-sqlite
ac_add_options --with-system-libevent
ac_add_options --with-system-nspr
ac_add_options --with-system-nss
ac_add_options --with-system-icu

# The BLFS editors recommend not changing anything below this line:
ac_add_options --prefix=/usr
ac_add_options --enable-application=comm/mail

ac_add_options --disable-crashreporter
ac_add_options --disable-updater
ac_add_options --disable-debug
ac_add_options --disable-tests

ac_add_options --enable-optimize=-O2
ac_add_options --enable-strip
ac_add_options --enable-install-strip

ac_add_options --enable-official-branding

ac_add_options --enable-system-ffi
ac_add_options --enable-system-pixman

ac_add_options --with-pthreads

ac_add_options --with-system-bz2
ac_add_options --with-system-jpeg
ac_add_options --with-system-png
ac_add_options --with-system-zlib
EOF

Compile Thunderbird by issuing the following commands:

[Note]

Note

If you are compiling Thunderbird in chroot, prepend SHELL=/bin/sh to the make command below. 

./mach build

This package does not come with a test suite.

Install Thunderbird by running the following commands as the root user: 

./mach install

Command Explanations

./mach build: Thunderbird now uses this python2 script to run the build and install.

./mach build --verbose: Use this alternative if you need details of which files are being compiled, together with any C or C++ flags being used.

Configuring Thunderbird

Configuration Information

If your Window or Desktop Manager does not allow you to configure a default browser, you can add a configuration parameter to Thunderbird so that a browser will start when when you click on an Internet/intranet/local URL. The procedure to check or modify any of the configuration parameters is quite simple and the instructions here can be used to view or modify any of the parameters.

First, open the configuration dialog by opening the “Edit” drop-down menu. Choose “Preferences” and then click on the “Advanced” icon on the top menu bar. Choose the “General” tab and click on the “Config Editor” button. This will display a list of the configuration preferences and information related to each one. You can use the “Filter:” bar to enter search criteria and narrow down the listed items. Changing a preference can be done using two methods. One, if the preference has a boolean value (True/False), simply double-click on the preference to toggle the value and two, for other preferences simply right-click on the desired line, choose “Modify” from the menu and change the value. Creating new preference items is accomplished in the same way, except choose “New” from the menu and provide the desired data into the fields when prompted.

The configuration preference item you need to check so that Thunderbird uses a specified browser is the network.protocol-handler.app.http which should be set to the path of the desired browser, e.g. /usr/bin/firefox.

[Tip]

Tip

There is a multitude of configuration parameters you can tweak to customize Thunderbird. A very extensive, but not so up-to-date list of these parameters can be found at http://preferential.mozdev.org/preferences.html.

If you use a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE, a desktop file thunderbird.desktop may be created, in order to include a “Thunderbird” entry in the menu. If you didn't enable startup-notification in your mozconfig, then change the StartupNotify line to false. Run the following commands as the root user: 

mkdir -pv /usr/share/{applications,pixmaps} &&

cat > /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop << "EOF" &&
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Thunderbird Mail
Comment=Send and receive mail with Thunderbird
GenericName=Mail Client
Exec=thunderbird %u
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=thunderbird
Categories=Network;Email;
MimeType=application/xhtml+xml;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/rss+xml;x-scheme-handler/mailto;
StartupNotify=true
EOF

ln -sfv /usr/lib/thunderbird-60.5.2/chrome/icons/default/default256.png \
        /usr/share/pixmaps/thunderbird.png

Contents

Installed Program: thunderbird
Installed Libraries: libldap60.so, libldif60.so, liblgpllibs.so, libmozgtk.so, libmozsandbox.so, libprldap60.so, and libxul.so
Installed Directory: /usr/lib/thunderbird-60.5.2

Short Descriptions

thunderbird

is Mozilla's email and newsgroup client.

Last updated on 2019-02-26 07:23:02 -0800