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.
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.
Download (HTTP): https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/128.5.1esr/source/thunderbird-128.5.1esr.source.tar.xz
Download MD5 sum: 3cfcc8b1fb3eed48761b7d16daaf9ca2
Download size: 648 MB
Estimated disk space required: 8.3 GB (249 MB installed)
Estimated build time: 12.8 SBU (on a 8-core machine)
Cbindgen-0.27.0, GTK+-3.24.43, LLVM-19.1.0 including clang, nodejs-22.12.0, PulseAudio-17.0 (or alsa-lib-1.2.13 if you edit the mozconfig; although it is now deprecated by mozilla), Python-3.13.1 (rebuilt with the sqlite module), startup-notification-0.12, and UnZip-6.0
libevent-2.1.12, libvpx-1.15.0, libwebp-1.5.0, NASM-2.16.03, NSPR-4.36, and nss-3.107
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 They might be tested to work, but they can be out of date or contain security holes.
pciutils-3.13.0 (runtime), Wget-1.25.0, Wireless Tools-29, and watchman
The build process for Thunderbird can use 8 GB or more 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 ./mach configure --
--help | less. Create the file with the following
command:
cat > mozconfig << "EOF"
# If you have a multicore machine, all cores will be used.
# If you have installed wireless-tools comment out this line:
ac_add_options --disable-necko-wifi
# Uncomment the following option if you have not installed PulseAudio
#ac_add_options --enable-audio-backends=alsa
# Comment out following options if you have not installed
# recommended dependencies:
ac_add_options --with-system-libevent
ac_add_options --with-system-libvpx
ac_add_options --with-system-nspr
ac_add_options --with-system-nss
ac_add_options --with-system-webp
# 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-debug-symbols
ac_add_options --disable-tests
# This enables SIMD optimization in the shipped encoding_rs crate.
ac_add_options --enable-rust-simd
ac_add_options --enable-strip
ac_add_options --enable-install-strip
# You cannot distribute the binary if you do this.
ac_add_options --enable-official-branding
ac_add_options --enable-system-ffi
ac_add_options --enable-system-pixman
ac_add_options --with-system-jpeg
ac_add_options --with-system-png
ac_add_options --with-system-zlib
# Using sandboxed wasm libraries has been moved to all builds instead
# of only mozilla automation builds. It requires extra llvm packages
# and was reported to seriously slow the build. Disable it.
ac_add_options --without-wasm-sandboxed-libraries
EOF
Now invoke the Python mach script to compile Thunderbird:
If you are compiling this package in chroot you must ensure that
/dev/shm is mounted. If you do not
do this, the Python
configuration will fail with a traceback report referencing
/usr/lib/pythonN.N/multiprocessing/synchronize.py.
As the root user, run:
mountpoint -q /dev/shm || mount -t tmpfs devshm /dev/shm
export MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE=none && export MOZBUILD_STATE_PATH=$(pwd)/mozbuild && ./mach build
This package does not come with a test suite.
Install Thunderbird by running the
following commands as the root
user:
MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE=none ./mach install
Empty the environment variables which were set above:
unset MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE && unset MOZBUILD_STATE_PATH
MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE=none: Use the system python to create a virtual environment for mach without downloading any python wheels nor using the system python modules. This prevent version mismatches between system modules and bundled ones.
./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.
./mach build -jN: The build should, by
default, use all the online CPU cores. If using all the cores
causes the build to swap because you have insufficient memory,
using fewer cores can be faster.
CC=gcc
CXX=g++
If your Window Manager or Desktop Environment does not allow you to configure a default browser, you can add a configuration parameter to Thunderbird so that a browser will start 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 “Settings” and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. Then, click the “Config Editor” button. Click on the “I accept the risk!” 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.
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. 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=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/rss+xml;x-scheme-handler/mailto;
StartupNotify=true
EOF
ln -sfv /usr/lib/thunderbird/chrome/icons/default/default256.png \
/usr/share/pixmaps/thunderbird.png