Hello, since there seems to be some interest in hacking on Firefox on ppc64, here is a quick and dirty guide on how to build the Firefox Debian package on unstable.
1) Install build dependencies (as root) # apt build-dep firefox # apt install devscripts 2) Fetch source (as normal user) $ dget -u https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/f/firefox/firefox_138.0.1-1.dsc 3) Install older version of NodeJS since the current version is broken (as root) # wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20240531T134713Z/pool-ppc64/main/n/nodejs/nodejs_18.20.1%2Bdfsg-4%2Bb2_ppc64.deb # wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20240531T134713Z/pool-ppc64/main/n/nodejs/libnode109_18.20.1%2Bdfsg-4%2Bb2_ppc64.deb # wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20240531T134713Z/pool-ppc64/main/n/nodejs/libnode-dev_18.20.1%2Bdfsg-4%2Bb2_ppc64.deb # wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20250109T015544Z/pool-ppc64/main/i/icu/libicu72_72.1-6_ppc64.deb # apt install ./nodejs_18.20.1+dfsg-4+b2_ppc64.deb ./libnode109_18.20.1+dfsg-4+b2_ppc64.deb ./libnode-dev_18.20.1+dfsg-4+b2_ppc64.deb ./libicu72_72.1-6_ppc64.deb 4) Edit debian/rules as follows: --- debian/rules.orig 2025-05-10 04:12:23.154624384 -0700 +++ debian/rules 2025-05-09 11:59:19.794538649 -0700 @@ -113,28 +113,8 @@ CONFIGURE_FLAGS += --disable-webrtc endif -ifeq (default,$(origin CC)) -ifneq (,$(filter-out bullseye bookworm,$(DIST))) -CC := clang -else -ifeq ($(DIST),bookworm) -CC := gcc-11 -else CC := gcc -endif -endif -endif -ifeq (default,$(origin CXX)) -ifneq (,$(filter-out bullseye bookworm,$(DIST))) -CXX := clang++ -else -ifeq ($(DIST),bookworm) -CXX := g++-11 -else CXX := g++ -endif -endif -endif i.e., override CC with "gcc" and CXX with g++. 5) Download patches from Solaris and apply them $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oracle/solaris-userland/refs/heads/master/components/desktop/firefox/patches/Bug1716707.patch $ cd /path/to/firefox-138.0.1/ $ patch -p1 < /path/to/patch/Bug1716707.patch $ dpkg-source --commmit # set filename Repeat for any other patch you want to test. 6) Build package $ dpkg-buildpackage -B Adrian -- .''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz : :' : Debian Developer `. `' Physicist `- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
