Compiling Firefox on Fedora 12 64-bit (x86_64)

Mozilla doesn’t distribute 64-bit binaries for Firefox.  If you want a newer version of Firefox (i.e. >3.5) on Fedora 12 64-bit, you’ll have to compile it yourself.  Here’s how to do that:

1. Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases and download the source tarball for the version you want.
2. tar -jxvf firefox-3.x.y.source.tar.bz2
3. cd mozilla-i.j.k
4. ./configure –enable-application=browser –disable-necko-wifi –enable-official-branding
5. make -j4
6. sudo make install

Please note the following:

• You have to enable the “browser” when configuring
• You have to disable the necko-wifi option when configuring, on Fedora 12
• You have to enable the “official branding” in order for your browser to be called “Firefox” instead of “Namoroka”