How to Install firefox-x11 on Mac OS X 10.6

Post by on October 16, 2012

I'm running OS X 10.6.8 and installed an X11 version of Firefox via Mac Ports:

$ sudo port install firefox-x11

Then, I received the following error:

$ firefox-x11 
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display "/tmp/launch-WsqYvq/org.x:0".
Dynamic session lookup supported but failed: launchd did not provide a socket path, verify that org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist is loaded!

So, after some searching, I found a wonderful person who posted on StackExchange that you need to setup dbus. He points out that you can run the port notes on dbus, which will tell you how to install:

$ port notes dbus
Warning: port definitions are more than two weeks old, consider using selfupdate
dbus has the following notes:
 ############################################################################
 # Startup items have been generated that will aid in
 # starting dbus with launchd. They are disabled
 # by default. Execute the following command to start them,
 # and to cause them to launch at startup:
 #
 # sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist
 # launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist
 ############################################################################

So, just run those two commands:

$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist
$ launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist

THEN, I ran into an issue with some xrandr extension not being supported:

$ firefox-x11 
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display "/tmp/launch-WsqYvq/org.x:0".

After searching around the internet, most notably the 20210 Mac Ports ticket, the conclusion was that it should be ignored. However, it wasn't opening... so, what do you do when something doesn't work on the command line?

$ sudo firefox-x11 
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display "/tmp/launch-WsqYvq/org.x:0".

Except, this time it actually opened! I hope this helps someone else.

 

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