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by oddshocks 4594 days ago
"Setting up a Windows build environment"

... what? Why would they only support Windows? Why would they even suggest Windows? Why at least not offer information on Linux, where I'm sure a large percentage of folks are contributing from? It is a FOSS project. You should develop it with FOSS software, such as Linux.
6 comments
mbrubeck 4594 days ago
Until Brian has produced videos for Mac and Linux setup too, you can find written instructions here:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Simple_Firefox_buil...

Setting up a Firefox development environment on Linux or Mac is actually quite a bit easier than on Windows. (For example, in most Linux distributions, you just need to check out the source code and then run "./mach bootstrap" to install the full set of tools and dependencies.)

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icegreentea 4594 days ago
Obviously there's a slip up with at least not including placeholder/unavailable topics for Linux. That said...

Maybe the reason so many contributors to most FOSS projects are developing at Linux is partly because so many FOSS projects are so goddamn hard to get into from a Windows environment. I know that most Windows build instructions for the projects that I've been interested in have been an absolute nightmare. Wrangling standard make instructions into something that Visual Studio will play nice with is a challenge that will turn off a lot of potential contributors.

By explicitly helping Windows users to pitch in on Firefox development, they are potentially capturing a set relatively untapped helpers. I feel that contributions to a FOSS project should be judged on their individual merits, not on the OS/environment it was developed in.

And because this it HN, I'm going to preempt any comments about 'how about patches derived from slave (or slave-like) labor?' with, well obviously those are bad, but in no way is developing Firefox (of all things) on Windows unmoral in any way. I mean, if you'll happily let Window's users use your free and open source software, then you have no reason to deny their contributions because they use Windows.

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bbondy 4594 days ago
There are at least a couple dozen unavailable videos not yet posted. This is not a slip up, but a work in progress. The site is very new and the outline is not even fully posted yet. That being said, I just updated the outline with OS X and Ubuntu planned videos.
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bbondy 4594 days ago
Other platforms are coming.
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davexunit 4594 days ago
I am annoyed by this, too. There is no reason to recommend a nonfree operating system for developing free software.
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bbondy 4594 days ago
There is no recommendation.
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pcwalton 4594 days ago
> ... what? Why would they only support Windows? Why would they even suggest Windows?

The vast majority of users run Windows, so making Firefox work better on Windows has an outsized impact. Of course, all help on any platform is very much appreciated :)

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bbondy 4592 days ago
Linux setup video posted here: http://codefirefox.com/#getting-setup/linux-build-env
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