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Updating a code archive w/ CVS

Abstract:
This article describes the fastest way to get a buildable tree.
Contributors should always download an archived source tree and update with CVS. Contributors should never checkout the entire tree via CVS.

Audience:
Contributors who want to access all code and/or build. (If you want to view individual files or search the tree, use LXR.)

Prerequisites:
Assumes you have a working knowledge of CVS and have installed a CVS client for your system.
Assumes you have downloaded source code archive from FTP (or one of its many mirror sites).
Assumes you have installed GNU Make. Other versions of make will not work.

Discussion:
The current source tarballs contain CVS info for the public server, cvs-mirror.mozilla.org.
The compressed size of a code archive is roughly 25-40 MB, when uncompressed, the size is several hundred (250-350 MB).

Steps:
  1. Decompress tar file.
  2. Update the client.mk file:
    cvs -z3 update -PA mozilla/client.mk
  3. Update your tree w/ the make file:
    make -f mozilla/client.mk checkout MOZ_CO_FLAGS=-PA
CVS will update your code tree. This might seem to take a long time, but is the fastest method of getting a buildable tree.