Given the difficulties in landing the preferences API refactoring (see Bug 46863) it seems that there are some makefiles on Windows and Linux which do not have the proper dependencies on the preferences module. Since it seems that removing component.reg fixes the problem, other bugs that might pertain to this include: Bug 78011 (Find dialog doesn't open unless you delete the component.reg) Bug 59454 (Modules should have separate include directories)

It appears that the collection of Windows/Linux module depends fixes have rendered this bug obsolete. I have not seen any indication that this is a problem for anyone.

mass verification of WorksForMe bugs: to find all bugspam pertaining to this, set your search string to "IfItWorksForSlappyTheSquirrelThenItWFM". if you think this particular bug is *still* an open issue, please make sure of the following before reopening: a. that it's still a problem with ***recent trunk builds*** on the all appropriate platform[s] b. provide clear steps to reproduce (unless a good test case is already in the bug report), making sure it pertains to the original problem (avoid morphing as much as possible :)