How to set up the Firefox OS desktop build
Revision Information
- Revision id: 40083
- Created:
- Creator: Ralph Daub
- Comment: Needs Windows + Linux instructions, will add soon. Article updated according to discussion.
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: iNerd
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: No
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Revision Content
Running the Firefox OS Simulator can be very useful for developers, tinkerers, and curious minds wanting to get a feel for how the Firefox OS operates.
Table of Contents
Using the Firefox OS Simulator add-on (recommended)
Running the Firefox OS add-on for the Firefox browser is the quickest and easiest way to get it working in under a minute, and it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Installing the Firefox OS Simulator
Please follow these easy steps to install and run the Firefox OS Simulator add-on for Firefox:
- Open your Firefox browser.
- Open this link to the Firefox OS Simulator add-on.
- Click on the button
- Firefox will download the requested add-on and may ask you to confirm that you want to install it.
Running the Firefox OS Simulator
Once the add-on is installed, open your Firefox once again and run the Firefox OS Simulator by following these steps:
- Click on then and select .
- On the left side of the simulator window, click on the switch so that it will turn to the Firefox OS.
- The simulator will start and you may now start playing with Firefox OS!
If the Firefox OS Simulator add-on does not work for some reason, you may attempt to manually install the simulator following the steps below.
Manually installing the Firefox OS Simulator
Here's how to get Firefox OS running on your desktop computer by manually compiling and installing and compiling it. These instructions are based on those by Staś Małolepszy. For more info, see his blog post. For more up-to-date instructions, check the Building and Installing Firefox OS page on the Mozilla Developer Network pages.
Prepare your computer
If you don't have these things already installed, you'll need to do this before you can get Firefox OS running.
- Install XCode from the Mac App store.
- Once it's "installed" from the App store, open the app to finish the installation.
- Then, open the XCode preferences and install the Command Line Tools.
- Finally, download and install Git from http://git-scm.com/downloads
Get the Boot2Gecko app
- Download the latest nightly build from ftp.mozilla.org. You want the latest mac64.dmg file.
- Double-click the .dmg file you just downloaded to open it and then drag the B2G.app to your Applications folder.
Get Gaia
- First, create a folder to hold everything. For these instructions, we'll create a "FirefoxOS" folder in your Documents folder.
- Open up the Terminal application. You automatically start in your Home folder (username:~).
- In the Terminal window, switch to the FirefoxOS folder you created in step 1 by typing, cd Documents/FirefoxOS and then hit
- Next, clone the Gaia repository (in English that means, download a copy to your computer) by typing, git clone https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia gaia and then hit
- Tip: You can copy and paste commands from this article into your Terminal.
- A bunch of stuff will happen and you'll see a download progress. When everything is done and you have a prompt again (username:FirefoxOS username$), continue with the next step.
.
- Now you need to create a profile by typing, DEBUG=1 make -C gaia profile and then hit
- Again, a bunch of stuff will happen. When you have a prompt again you'll be done.
.
Start Firefox OS
- To start Firefox OS, open the Terminal and type, /Applications/B2G.app/Contents/MacOS/b2g -profile ~/Documents/FirefoxOS/gaia/profile and hit .
Update
This desktop version doesn't auto-update. To update it manually:
- Download and install the latest nightly build from ftp.mozilla.org.
- Open the Terminal, navigate to the gaia folder inside the FirefoxOS folder by typing, cd ~/Documents/FirefoxOS/gaia
- Then type, git pull
Get the Boot2Gecko app
- Download the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86).
- Start the installer and follow the instructions.
- Download the pre-built installer for b2g-desktop with pre-compiled gaia.
- Start the installer and follow the instructions. Be sure to leave the two checkboxes checked.
Start Firefox OS
Simply click the
application shortcut from the Windows Start menu to launch Firefox OS.Auto update
This pre-built installer includes an automatic update feature. The second time you launch the app, it will check for updates and ask you if you want to upgrade. Simply click
and follow the instructions. The installer will detect your previous install and ask to remove it before upgrading -- say to that too.