PSA: Auto-install and auto-update of most tools, without mach bootstrap.

[Mike Hommey]

Hi,

Following the "PSA: Experimental support for auto-updating the tools
mach bootstrap installs" from a few months ago (further down below for
reference), I am happy to announce that the feature is now enabled by
default on mozilla-central when building from a git or mercurial
checkout.

The feature will not automatically install or upgrade the tools the
build requires (such as clang, nasm, node, etc.), while running `mach
build`. It will also downgrade those tools when necessary.

The feature can be disabled with `ac_add_options --disable-bootstrap` in
your mozconfig if necessary.

Worth of note: it doesn't handle the Rust compiler, or the android NDK
and SDK, yet.

The feature only works when the build happens on:
- x86-64 Windows
- x86-64 macOS
- arm64 macOS
- x86-64 Linux

On other platforms, it will do nothing.


More thorough history:
- it was enabled for arm64 macOS (M1) in bug 1697098, back in March.
- it was enabled for all macOS builds in bug 1716911, back at
the end of last week
- it was enabled for Windows builds in bug 1716912, yesterday
- it was enabled more generally in bug 1717585, today (as of writing,
still on autoland ; it will be on central on next merge)

Mike


On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 10:45:54AM +0900, Mike Hommey wrote:
> Hi,
>
> mozilla-central now has a new experimental configure option that will
> automatically upgrade the tools mach bootstrap installed.
>
> You can use it with
> ac_add_options --enable-bootstrap
>
> Please give it a try, and report any problems you encounter on
> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Firefox+Build+System&component=General
> or
> #build:mozilla.org on Element.
>
> The feature is expected to eventually also cover installation, but for
> now, it only covers what has already been installed once.
>
> Mike

[Nick Alexander]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 6:19 PM Mike Hommey <mh+mo...@glandium.org> wrote:

Hi,

Following the "PSA: Experimental support for auto-updating the tools
mach bootstrap installs" from a few months ago (further down below for
reference), I am happy to announce that the feature is now enabled by
default on mozilla-central when building from a git or mercurial
checkout.

Amazing work, Mike and collaborators!

The feature will not automatically install or upgrade the tools the
build requires (such as clang, nasm, node, etc.), while running `mach
build`. It will also downgrade those tools when necessary.

I assume this is "will NOW automatically" :)

 

The feature can be disabled with `ac_add_options --disable-bootstrap` in
your mozconfig if necessary.

Worth of note: it doesn't handle the Rust compiler, or the android NDK
and SDK, yet.

Is there any particular blocker to handling these?  Or is it "just" time and effort?

Congratulations!

Nick

[Mike Hommey]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 07:40:12PM -0700, Nick Alexander wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 6:19 PM Mike Hommey <mh+mo...@glandium.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Following the "PSA: Experimental support for auto-updating the tools
> > mach bootstrap installs" from a few months ago (further down below for
> > reference), I am happy to announce that the feature is now enabled by
> > default on mozilla-central when building from a git or mercurial
> > checkout.
> >
>
> Amazing work, Mike and collaborators!
>
>
> > The feature will not automatically install or upgrade the tools the
> > build requires (such as clang, nasm, node, etc.), while running `mach
> > build`. It will also downgrade those tools when necessary.
> >
>
> I assume this is "will NOW automatically" :)

The worst typo of all. Yes, I meant "now", not "not".

> > The feature can be disabled with `ac_add_options --disable-bootstrap` in
> > your mozconfig if necessary.
> >
> > Worth of note: it doesn't handle the Rust compiler, or the android NDK
> > and SDK, yet.
> >
>
> Is there any particular blocker to handling these? Or is it "just" time
> and effort?

It is "just" time and effort. They each need some special dedicated support.

Mike