.. _mozilla_projects_nss_building_ported:
Building NSS
============
`Introduction <#introduction>`__
--------------------------------
.. container::
This page has detailed information on how to build NSS. Because NSS is a cross-platform library
that builds on many different platforms and has many options, it may be complex to build. Please
read these instructions carefully before attempting to build.
.. _build_environment:
`Build environment <#build_environment>`__
------------------------------------------
.. container::
NSS needs a C and C++ compiler. It has minimal dependencies, including only standard C and C++
libraries, plus `zlib <
https://www.zlib.net/>`__.
For building, you also need `make <
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/>`__. Ideally, also in
stall
`gyp <https://gyp.gsrc.io/>`__ and `ninja <https://ninja-build.org/>`__ and put them on your
path. This is recommended, as the build is faster and more reliable.
`Windows <#windows>`__
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. container::
NSS compilation on Windows uses the same shared build system as Mozilla Firefox. You must first
install the `Windows
Prerequisites <https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/setup/windows_build.html>`__,
including **MozillaBuild**.
You can also build NSS on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, but the resulting binaries aren't
usable by other Windows applications.
.. _get_the_source:
`Get the source <#get_the_source>`__
------------------------------------
.. container::
NSS and NSPR use Mercurial for source control like other Mozilla projects. To check out the
latest sources for NSS and NSPR--which may not be part of a stable release--use the following
commands:
.. code::
hg clone https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nspr
hg clone https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nss
To get the source of a specific release, see :ref:`mozilla_projects_nss_nss_releases`.
`Build <#build>`__
------------------
.. container::
Build NSS using our build script:
.. code::
nss/build.sh
This builds both NSPR and NSS.
.. _build_with_make:
`Build with make <#build_with_make>`__
--------------------------------------
.. container::
Alternatively, there is a ``make`` target called "nss_build_all", which produces a similar
result. This supports some alternative options, but can be a lot slower.
.. code::
make -C nss nss_build_all USE_64=1
The make-based build system for NSS uses a variety of variables to control the build. Below are
some of the variables, along with possible values they may be set to.
BUILD_OPT
0
Build a debug (non-optimized) version of NSS. *This is the default.*
1
Build an optimized (non-debug) version of NSS.
USE_64
0
Build for a 32-bit environment/ABI. *This is the default.*
1
Build for a 64-bit environment/ABI. *This is recommended.*
USE_ASAN
0
Do not create an `AddressSanitizer <http://clang.llvm.org/docs/AddressSanitizer.html>`__
build. *This is the default.*
1
Create an AddressSanitizer build.
.. _unit_testing:
`Unit testing <#unit_testing>`__
--------------------------------
.. container::
NSS contains extensive unit tests. Scripts to run these are found in the ``tests`` directory.
Run the standard suite by:
.. code::
HOST=localhost DOMSUF=localdomain USE_64=1 nss/tests/all.sh
.. _unit_test_configuration:
`Unit test configuration <#unit_test_configuration>`__
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. container::
| NSS tests are configured using environment variables.
| The scripts will attempt to infer values for ``HOST`` and ``DOMSUF``, but can fail. Replace
``localhost`` and ``localdomain`` with the hostname and domain suffix for your host. You need
to be able to connect to ``$HOST.$DOMSUF``.
If you don't have a domain suffix you can add an entry to ``/etc/hosts`` (on
Windows,\ ``c:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts``) as follows:
.. code::
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain
Validate this opening a command shell and typing: ``ping localhost.localdomain``.
Remove the ``USE_64=1`` override if using a 32-bit build.
.. _test_results:
`Test results <#test_results>`__
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. container::
Running all tests can take a considerable amount of time.
Test output is stored in ``tests_results/security/$HOST.$NUMBER/``. The file ``results.html``
summarizes the results, ``output.log`` captures all the test output.
Other subdirectories of ``nss/tests`` contain scripts that run a subset of the full suite. Those
can be run directly instead of ``all.sh``, which might save some time at the cost of coverage.
