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In This Article
    1. accessible
    2. addon-sdk
    3. b2g
    4. browser
      1. browser/devtools
      2. browser/extensions
      3. browser/themes
    5. build
    6. caps
    7. chrome
    8. config
    9. db
      1. db/sqlite3
    10. devtools
    11. docshell
    12. dom
    13. editor
    14. embedding
    15. extensions
      1. extensions/auth
      2. extensions/content-packs
      3. extensions/cookie
      4. extensions/cview
      5. extensions/datetime
      6. extensions/finger
      7. extensions/gnomevfs
      8. extensions/help
      9. extensions/irc
      10. extensions/java
      11. extensions/layout-debug
      12. extensions/lightning
      13. extensions/mono
      14. extensions/p3p
      15. extensions/pref
      16. extensions/python
      17. extensions/reporter
      18. extension/schema-validation
      19. extension/spatialnavigation
      20. extensions/spellcheck
      21. extensions/sql
      22. extensions/sroaming
      23. extensions/transformiix
      24. extensions/tridentprofile
      25. extensions/typeaheadfind
      26. extensions/universalchardet
      27. extensions/venkman
      28. extensions/wallet
      29. extensions/webdav
      30. extensions/webservices
      31. extensions/xforms
      32. extensions/xmlextras
      33. extensions/xml-rpc
      34. extensions/xmlterm
    16. gfx
    17. gradle
    18. hal
    19. image
    20. intl
      1. intl/chardet
      2. intl/ctl
      3. intl/locale
      4. intl/lwbrk
      5. intl/strres
      6. intl/uconv
      7. intl/unicharutil
    21. ipc
    22. js
      1. js/src
      2. js/jsd
      3. js/xpconnect
    23. layout
      1. layout/base
      2. layout/generic
      3. layout/forms
      4. layout/tables
      5. layout/mathml
      6. layout/svg
      7. layout/xul
    24. media
    25. memory
    26. mfbt
    27. mobile
    28. modules
      1. modules/libjar
      2. modules/libpref
      3. modules/zlib
    29. mozglue
    30. netwerk
    31. nsprpub
      1. nsprpub/lib
    32. other-licenses
    33. parser
      1. parser/expat
      2. parser/html
      3. parser/xml
      4. parser/htmlparser
    34. probes
    35. python
      1. python/mach
    36. rdf
    37. security
    38. services
    39. startupcache
    40. storage
    41. taskcluster
    42. testing
    43. third_party
    44. toolkit
      1. toolkit/mozapps/extensions/test/xpinstall
    45. tools
    46. uriloader
      1. uriloader/base
      2. uriloader/exthandler
      3. uriloader/prefetch
    47. view
    48. widget
    49. xpcom
    50. xpfe
      1. xpfe/components
  1. Moved/Renamed/Deleted Directories
    1. content
    2. profile
    3. xulrunner

The code for all projects in the Mozilla family (such as Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) is combined into a single source tree. The tree contains the source code as well as the code required to build each project on supported platforms (Linux, Windows, OS X, etc). This article provides an overview of what the various directories contain.

To simply take a look at the Mozilla source code, you do not need to download it. You can look at the source directly with your web browser using DXR (start at https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/? for the complete mozilla source code of branch HEAD).

In order to modify the source, you have to acquire it either by downloading a snapshot of the sources or by checking out the current sources from Mercurial.

This document describes the directory structure that can be pulled by client.mk -- i.e., directories that are used by at least some of the Mozilla project's client products. There are other directories in the Mozilla CVS repository, such as those for Web tools and those for the Classic codebase.

See source code directories overview for a somewhat different (older) version of the same information. Also see the more detailed overview of the pieces of Gecko.

accessible

Files for accessibility (i.e., MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility), ATK (Accessibility Toolkit, used by GTK+ 2) support files). See Accessibility.

addon-sdk

The add-on SDK for creating Firefox add-ons using standard Web Technologies.

b2g

Source code for the Boot2Gecko project used when building FirefoxOS.

browser

Contains the front end code (in XUL, Javascript, XBL, and C++) for the Firefox browser. Many of these files started off as a copy of files in xpfe/.

browser/devtools

Contains the front end code for the DevTools (Scratchpad, Style Editor...). See also toolkit/devtools.

browser/extensions

Contains PDF.js and Shumway built-in extensions.

browser/themes

Contains images and CSS files to skin the browser for each OS (Linux, Mac and Windows)

build

Miscellaneous files used by the build process. See also config/.

caps

Capability-based web page security management. It contains C++ interfaces and code for determining the capabilities of content based on the security settings or certificates (e.g., VeriSign). See Component Security.

chrome

Chrome registry (See <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Chrome_Registration">here</a>) used with toolkit/. These files were originally copies of files in rdf/chrome/ (SeaMonkey still uses these).

config

More files used by the build process, common includes for the makefiles, etc. See also build/.

db

Container for database-accessing modules.

db/sqlite3

The SQLite database, used by storage.

devtools

XXX this needs a description.

docshell

Implementation of the docshell, the main object managing things related to a document window. Each frame has its own docshell. It contains methods for loading URIs, managing URI content listeners, etc. It is the outermost layer of the embedding API used to embed a Gecko browser into an application. See also webshell/.

dom

  • IDL definitions of the interfaces defined by the DOM specifications and Mozilla extensions to those interfaces (implementations of these interfaces are primarily, but not completely, in content/).
  • The parts of the connection between JavaScript and the implementations of DOM objects that are specific both to JavaScript and to the DOM. (The parts that are not DOM-specific, i.e., the generic binding between XPCOM and JavaScript, live in js/src/xpconnect/.)
  • Implementations of a few of the core "DOM Level 0" objects, such as window, window.navigator, window.location, etc.

editor

The editor directory contains C++ interfaces, C++ code, and XUL/Javascript for the embeddable editor component, which is used for the HTML Editor("Composer"), for plain and HTML mail composition, and for text fields and text areas throughout the product. The editor is designed like a "browser window with editing features": it adds some special classes for editing text and managing transaction undo/redo, but reuses browser code for nearly everything else.

Contains:

  • The backend for HTML and text editing. This is not only used for the mail composer and the page editor composer, but also for rich text editing inside webpages. Textarea and input fields are using such an editor as well (in the plaintext variant). See Mozilla Editor.
  • The frontend for the HTML editor that is part of SeaMonkey.

embedding

This directory contains IDL, headers, and support files needed in order to embed Gecko in applications.

See also: Embedding Mozilla.

extensions

Contains several extensions to mozilla, which can be enabled at compile-time using the --enable-extensions configure argument.

Note that some of these are now built specially and not using the --enable-extensions option. For example, disabling xmlextras is done using --disable-xmlextras.

extensions/auth

Implementation of the negotiate auth method for HTTP and other protocols. Has code for SSPI, GSSAPI, etc. See Integrated Authentication.

extensions/content-packs

Content- and locale-pack switching user interface.

extensions/cookie

Permissions backend for cookies, images, etc., as well as the user interface to these permissions and other cookie features.

extensions/cview

Component viewer, which allows to view the currently registered components and interfaces.

extensions/datetime

Support for the datetime protocol.

extensions/finger

Support for the finger protocol.

extensions/gnomevfs

Interface to gnome-vfs to allow using all protocols supported by gnome-vfs inside of mozilla.

extensions/help

Help viewer and help content. See Mozilla Help Viewer Project.

extensions/irc

This is ChatZilla, the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) component. See ChatZilla.

extensions/java

XPCOM<->Java bridge ("JavaXPCOM", formerly known as Javaconnect). Unrelated to the code in java/.

extensions/layout-debug

Layout debugger. Intended as replacement for "viewer". Can be used to run layout regression tests and has support for other layout debugging features.

extensions/lightning

The Lightning project, "an extension to tightly integrate calendar functionality (scheduling, tasks, etc.) into Thunderbird." See Lightning.

extensions/mono

A two-way bridge between the CLR/.NET/Mono/C#/etc. world and XPCOM.

extensions/p3p

Implementation of W3C's Platform for Privacy Preferences standard. See Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P).

extensions/pref

Preference-related extensions.

extensions/python

Support for implementing XPCOM components in python. See PyXPCOM.

extensions/reporter

An extension to report problems with web pages. Client-side part. See Mozilla Reporter.

extension/schema-validation

Allows to validate XML trees according to specified XML Schemas.

extension/spatialnavigation

Spatial navigation, navigating between links of a document according to their on-screen position. See Spatial Navigation.

extensions/spellcheck

Spellchecker for mailnews and composer.

extensions/sql

Support for accessing SQL databases from XUL applications. See SQL Support in Mozilla.

extensions/sroaming

Session roaming, i.e. support for storing a profile on a remote server.

extensions/transformiix

XSLT support. XSL Transformations is a language used to transform XML documents into other XML documents. See XSL Transformations.

extensions/tridentprofile

Support for importing profiles from MSIE.

extensions/typeaheadfind

Find As You Type allows quick web page navigation when you type a succession of characters in the body of the displayed page. See Find As You Type.

extensions/universalchardet

Universal character set detector.

extensions/venkman

The JavaScript Debugger.

extensions/wallet

Password and Form Manager.

extensions/webdav

WebDAV code; exposes special APIs for accessing WebDAV servers. Used by the Calendar project.

extensions/webservices

Support for Webservices. See Web Services.

extensions/xforms

Code for the XForms extension. See XForms.

extensions/xmlextras

Several XML-related extensions. See XML Extras.

extensions/xml-rpc

XML Remote Procedure Calls. Unowned these days. See XML-RPC in Mozilla.

extensions/xmlterm

XMLTerm, a terminal implemented using mozilla technology. Only available on GTK builds.

gfx

Contains interfaces that abstract the capabilities of platform specific graphics toolkits, along with implementations on various platforms. These interfaces provide methods for things like drawing images, text, and basic shapes. It also contains basic data structures such as points and rectangles used here and in other parts of Mozilla.

It is also the home of the new graphics architecture based on cairo (via a C++ wrapper called thebes). See NewGFXAPIs and GFXEvolution.

gradle

Containing files related to a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) build system.

hal

Contains platform specified functions (e.g. obtaining battery status, sensor information, memory information, Android alarms/vibrate/notifications/orientation, etc)

image

Image rendering library. Contains decoders for the image formats mozilla supports.

intl

Internationalization and localization support. See L10n:NewProjects.

intl/chardet

Code for "sniffing" the character encoding of Web pages.

intl/ctl

Code for dealing with Complex Text Layout, related to shaping of south Asian languages (not built by default, needs --enable-ctl).

intl/locale

Code related to determination of locale information from the operating environment.

intl/lwbrk

Code related to line breaking and word breaking.

intl/strres

Code related to string resources used for localization.

intl/uconv

Code that converts (both ways: encoders and decoders) between UTF-16 and many other character encodings.

intl/unicharutil

Code related to implementation of various algorithms for Unicode text, such as case conversion.

ipc

Container for implementations of IPC (Inter-Process Communication).

js

js/src

The JavaScript engine, also known as SpiderMonkey. See also JavaScript.

js/jsd

JavaScript debugging library. See JavaScript Debugging.

js/xpconnect

Support code for calling JavaScript code from C++ code and C++ code from JavaScript code, using XPCOM interfaces. See XPConnect.

layout

Code that implements a tree of rendering objects that describe the types and locations of the objects that are displayed on the screen (such as CSS boxes, tables, form controls, XUL boxes, etc.), and code that manages operations over that rendering tree (such as creating and destroying it, doing layout, painting, and event handling). See documentation and other information.

layout/base

Code that deals with the rendering tree.

layout/generic

The basic rendering object interface and the rendering tree objects for basic CSS boxes.

layout/forms

Rendering tree objects for HTML form controls.

layout/tables

Rendering tree objects for CSS/HTML tables.

layout/mathml

Rendering tree objects for MathML.

layout/svg

Rendering tree objects for SVG.

layout/xul

Additional rendering object interfaces for XUL and the rendering tree objects for XUL boxes.

media

Contains sources of used media libraries for example libpng.

memory

Cross-platform wrappers for memallocs functions etc.

mfbt

Implementations of classes like WeakPtr. Multi-platform assertions etc. More on MFBT

mobile

XXX this needs a description.

modules

Compression/Archiving, math library, font (and font compression), Preferences Library

modules/libjar

Code to read zip files, used for reading the .jar files that contain the files for the mozilla frontend.

modules/libpref

Library for reading and writing preferences.

modules/zlib

Source code of zlib, used at least in the networking library for compressed transfers.

mozglue

Glue library containing various low-level functionality, including a dynamic linker for Android, a DLL block list for Windows, etc.

netwerk

Networking library, also known as Necko. Responsible for doing actual transfers from and to servers, as well as for URI handling and related stuff. See also Network library documentation.

nsprpub

Netscape Portable Runtime. Used as an abstraction layer to things like threads, file I/O, and socket I/O. See Netscape Portable Runtime.

nsprpub/lib

Mostly unused; might be used on Mac?

other-licenses

Contains libraries that are not covered by the MPL but are used in some mozilla code.

parser

Group of structures and functions needed to parse files based on XML/HTML.

parser/expat

Copy of the expat source code, which is the XML parser used by mozilla.

parser/html

The HTML parser (for everything except about:blank).

parser/xml

The code for integrating expat (from parser/expat) into Gecko.

parser/htmlparser

The legacy HTML parser that's still used for about:blank. Parts of it are also used for managing the conversion of the network bytestream into Unicode in the XML parsing case.

probes

Files related to dtrace.

python

Cross module python code.

python/mach

The code for the Mach building tool.

rdf

RDF handling APIs. See RDF and RDFAlso contains the chrome registry code used by SeaMonkey, although toolkit apps (such as Firefox and Thunderbird) use the copy forked into chrome.

security

Contains NSS and PSM, to support cryptographic functions in mozilla (like S/MIME, SSL, etc). See Network Security Services (NSS) and Personal Security Manager (PSM).

services

Firefox accounts and sync (history, preferences, tabs, bookmarks, telemetry, startup time, which addons are installed, etc). See <a href="https://docs.services.mozilla.com/">here</a>

startupcache

XXX this needs a description.

storage

Storage: XPCOM wrapper for sqlite. Wants to unify storage of all profile-related data. Supersedes mork. See also Unified Storage.

taskcluster

Scripts and code to automatically build and test Mozilla trees for the continuous integration and release process.

testing

Common testing tools for mozilla codebase projects, test suite definitions for automated test runs, tests that don't fit anywhere else, and other fun stuff.

third_party

XXX this needs a description.

toolkit

The "new toolkit" used by Thunderbird, Firefox, etc. This contains numerous front-end components shared between applications as well as most of the XBL-implemented parts of the XUL language (most of which was originally forked from versions in xpfe/).

toolkit/mozapps/extensions/test/xpinstall

The installer, which contains code for installing Mozilla and for installing XPIs/extensions. This directory also contains code needed to build installer packages. See XPInstall and the XPInstall project page.

tools

Some tools which are optionally built during the mozilla build process, mostly used for debugging.

uriloader

XXX this needs a description.

uriloader/base

Content dispatch in Mozilla. Used to load uris and find an appropriate content listener for the data. Also manages web progress notifications. See Document Loading: From Load Start to Finding a Handler and The Life Of An HTML HTTP Request.

uriloader/exthandler

Used to handle content that Mozilla can't handle itself. Responsible for showing the helper app dialog, and generally for finding information about helper applications.

uriloader/prefetch

Service to prefetch documents in order to have them cached for faster loading.

view

View manager. Contains cross-platform code used for painting, scrolling, event handling, z-ordering, and opacity. Soon to become obsolete, gradually.

widget

A cross-platform API, with implementations on each platform, for dealing with operating system/environment widgets, i.e., code related to creation and handling of windows, popups, and other native widgets and to converting the system's messages related to painting and events into the messages used by other parts of Mozilla (e.g., view/ and content/, the latter of which converts many of the messages to yet another API, the DOM event API).

xpcom

Cross-Platform Component Object Model. Also contains data structures used by the rest of the mozilla code. See also XPCOM Project.

xpfe

XPFE (Cross Platform Front End) is the SeaMonkey frontend. It contains the XUL files for the browser interface, common files used by the other parts of the mozilla suite, and the XBL files for the parts of the XUL language that are implemented in XBL. Much of this code has been copied to browser/ and toolkit/ for use in Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.

xpfe/components

Components used by the Mozilla frontend, as well as implementations of interfaces that other parts of mozilla expect.

Moved/Renamed/Deleted Directories

content

The data structures that represent the structure of Web pages (HTML, SVG, XML documents, elements, text nodes, etc.) These objects contain the implementation of many DOM interfaces and also implement some behaviors associated with those objects, such as link handling, form control behavior, and form submission.

This directory also contains the code for XUL, XBL, XTF, <canvas>, as well as the code implementing XSLT and event handling.

profile

Code for profile handling, the profile manager backend and frontend.

xulrunner

Code for XULRunner. See also XULRunner.