XCAppCollection
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XCVMKit-OS


			
				
					
						
						
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>The Buildroot user manual</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="docbook-xsl.css" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /></head><body><div xml:lang="en" class="book" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="idm1"></a>The Buildroot user manual</h1></div></div><hr /></div><div class="toc"><p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="preface"><a href="#idm4"></a></span></dt><dt><span class="part"><a href="#_getting_started">I. Getting started</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_about_buildroot">1. About Buildroot</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#requirement">2. System requirements</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#requirement-mandatory">2.1. Mandatory packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#requirement-optional">2.2. Optional packages</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#getting-buildroot">3. Getting Buildroot</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_buildroot_quick_start">4. Buildroot quick start</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#community-resources">5. Community resources</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="part"><a href="#_user_guide">II. User guide</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#configure">6. Buildroot configuration</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_cross_compilation_toolchain">6.1. Cross-compilation toolchain</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_dev_management">6.2. /dev management</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#init-system">6.3. init system</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_configuration_of_other_components">7. Configuration of other components</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_general_buildroot_usage">8. General Buildroot usage</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#make-tips">8.1. <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> tips</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#full-rebuild">8.2. Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#rebuild-pkg">8.3. Understanding how to rebuild packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_offline_builds">8.4. Offline builds</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_building_out_of_tree">8.5. Building out-of-tree</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#env-vars">8.6. Environment variables</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_dealing_efficiently_with_filesystem_images">8.7. Dealing efficiently with filesystem images</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_details_about_packages">8.8. Details about packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_graphing_the_dependencies_between_packages">8.9. Graphing the dependencies between packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_graphing_the_build_duration">8.10. Graphing the build duration</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#graph-size">8.11. Graphing the filesystem size contribution of packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#top-level-parallel-build">8.12. Top-level parallel build</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_advanced_usage">8.13. Advanced usage</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#customize">9. Project-specific customization</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#customize-dir-structure">9.1. Recommended directory structure</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#outside-br-custom">9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#customize-store-buildroot-config">9.3. Storing the Buildroot configuration</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#customize-store-package-config">9.4. Storing the configuration of other components</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#rootfs-custom">9.5. Customizing the generated target filesystem</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#customize-users">9.6. Adding custom user accounts</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_customization_emphasis_after_emphasis_the_images_have_been_created">9.7. Customization <span class="emphasis"><em>after</em></span> the images have been created</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_adding_project_specific_patches_and_hashes">9.8. Adding project-specific patches and hashes</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#customize-packages">9.9. Adding project-specific packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_quick_guide_to_storing_your_project_specific_customizations">9.10. Quick guide to storing your project-specific customizations</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#integration">10. Integration topics</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#integration-systemd">10.1. Systemd</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#selinux">10.2. Using SELinux in Buildroot</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_frequently_asked_questions_amp_troubleshooting">11. Frequently Asked Questions &amp; Troubleshooting</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-boot-hang-after-starting">11.1. The boot hangs after <span class="emphasis"><em>Starting network…</em></span></a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-no-compiler-on-target">11.2. Why is there no compiler on the target?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-no-dev-files-on-target">11.3. Why are there no development files on the target?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-no-doc-on-target">11.4. Why is there no documentation on the target?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-why-not-visible-package">11.5. Why are some packages not visible in the Buildroot config menu?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-why-not-use-target-as-chroot">11.6. Why not use the target directory as a chroot directory?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-no-binary-packages">11.7. Why doesn’t Buildroot generate binary packages (.deb, .ipkg…)?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-speeding-up-build">11.8. How to speed-up the build process?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#faq-2038">11.9. How does Buildroot support Y2038?</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_known_issues">12. Known issues</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#legal-info">13. Legal notice and licensing</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_complying_with_open_source_licenses">13.1. Complying with open source licenses</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#legal-info-buildroot">13.2. Complying with the Buildroot license</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_beyond_buildroot">14. Beyond Buildroot</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_boot_the_generated_images">14.1. Boot the generated images</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_chroot">14.2. Chroot</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></dd><dt><span class="part"><a href="#_developer_guide">III. Developer guide</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_how_buildroot_works">15. How Buildroot works</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_coding_style">16. Coding style</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#writing-rules-config-in">16.1. <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#writing-rules-mk">16.2. The <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#writing-genimage-cfg">16.3. The <code class="literal">genimage.cfg</code> file</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_the_documentation">16.4. The documentation</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_support_scripts">16.5. Support scripts</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#adding-board-support">17. Adding support for a particular board</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#adding-packages">18. Adding new packages to Buildroot</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_package_directory">18.1. Package directory</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_config_files">18.2. Config files</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_the_literal_mk_literal_file">18.3. The <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#adding-packages-hash">18.4. The <code class="literal">.hash</code> file</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#adding-packages-start-script">18.5. The <code class="literal">SNNfoo</code> start script</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_packages_with_specific_build_systems">18.6. Infrastructure for packages with specific build systems</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_autotools_based_packages">18.7. Infrastructure for autotools-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_cmake_based_packages">18.8. Infrastructure for CMake-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_python_packages">18.9. Infrastructure for Python packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_luarocks_based_packages">18.10. Infrastructure for LuaRocks-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_perl_cpan_packages">18.11. Infrastructure for Perl/CPAN packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_virtual_packages">18.12. Infrastructure for virtual packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_packages_using_kconfig_for_configuration_files">18.13. Infrastructure for packages using kconfig for configuration files</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_rebar_based_packages">18.14. Infrastructure for rebar-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_waf_based_packages">18.15. Infrastructure for Waf-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_meson_based_packages">18.16. Infrastructure for Meson-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_cargo_based_packages">18.17. Infrastructure for Cargo-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_go_packages">18.18. Infrastructure for Go packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_qmake_based_packages">18.19. Infrastructure for QMake-based packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_packages_building_kernel_modules">18.20. Infrastructure for packages building kernel modules</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_infrastructure_for_asciidoc_documents">18.21. Infrastructure for asciidoc documents</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#linux-kernel-specific-infra">18.22. Infrastructure specific to the Linux kernel package</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#hooks">18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_gettext_integration_and_interaction_with_packages">18.24. Gettext integration and interaction with packages</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_tips_and_tricks">18.25. Tips and tricks</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_conclusion">18.26. Conclusion</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#patch-policy">19. Patching a package</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_providing_patches">19.1. Providing patches</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#patch-apply-order">19.2. How patches are applied</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_format_and_licensing_of_the_package_patches">19.3. Format and licensing of the package patches</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_additional_patch_documentation">19.4. Additional patch documentation</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#download-infra">20. Download infrastructure</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#debugging-buildroot">21. Debugging Buildroot</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#_contributing_to_buildroot">22. Contributing to Buildroot</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_reproducing_analyzing_and_fixing_bugs">22.1. Reproducing, analyzing and fixing bugs</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_analyzing_and_fixing_autobuild_failures">22.2. Analyzing and fixing autobuild failures</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_reviewing_and_testing_patches">22.3. Reviewing and testing patches</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_work_on_items_from_the_todo_list">22.4. Work on items from the TODO list</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#submitting-patches">22.5. Submitting patches</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#reporting-bugs">22.6. Reporting issues/bugs or getting help</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_using_the_runtime_tests_framework">22.7. Using the runtime tests framework</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#DEVELOPERS">23. DEVELOPERS file and get-developers</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#RELENG">24. Release Engineering</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_releases">24.1. Releases</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_development">24.2. Development</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></dd><dt><span class="part"><a href="#_appendix">IV. Appendix</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#makedev-syntax">25. Makedev syntax documentation</a></span></dt><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#makeuser-syntax">26. Makeusers syntax documentation</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#_caveat_with_automatic_uids_and_gids">26.1. Caveat with automatic UIDs and GIDs</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="chapter"><a href="#migrating-from-ol-versions">27. Migrating from older Buildroot versions</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#migrating-approach">27.1. General approach</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#br2-external-converting">27.2. Migrating to 2016.11</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#migrating-host-usr">27.3. Migrating to 2017.08</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="#migrating-svn-externals">27.4. Migrating to 2023.11</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl></div><div class="list-of-examples"><p><strong>List of Examples</strong></p><dl><dt>18.1. <a href="#idm3373">Config script: <span class="emphasis"><em>divine</em></span> package</a></dt><dt>18.2. <a href="#idm3380">Config script: <span class="emphasis"><em>imagemagick</em></span> package:</a></dt></dl></div><div class="preface"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="idm4"></a></h1></div></div></div><p>Buildroot 2024.02.10 manual generated on 2025-01-09
13:44:22 UTC from git revision c9620ac37e</p><p>The Buildroot manual is written by the Buildroot developers.
It is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2. Refer to the
<a class="ulink" href="http://git.buildroot.org/buildroot/tree/COPYING?id=c9620ac37e658d177821be85b4c9484e71e19710" target="_top">COPYING</a>
file in the Buildroot sources for the full text of this license.</p><p>Copyright © The Buildroot developers &lt;<a class="ulink" href="mailto:buildroot@buildroot.org" target="_top">buildroot@buildroot.org</a>&gt;</p><div class="informalfigure"><div class="mediaobject"><img src="logo.png" alt="logo.png" /></div></div></div><div class="part"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="_getting_started"></a>Part I. Getting started</h1></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_about_buildroot"></a>Chapter 1. About Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot is a tool that simplifies and automates the process of
building a complete Linux system for an embedded system, using
cross-compilation.</p><p>In order to achieve this, Buildroot is able to generate a
cross-compilation toolchain, a root filesystem, a Linux kernel image
and a bootloader for your target. Buildroot can be used for any
combination of these options, independently (you can for example use
an existing cross-compilation toolchain, and build only your root
filesystem with Buildroot).</p><p>Buildroot is useful mainly for people working with embedded systems.
Embedded systems often use processors that are not the regular x86
processors everyone is used to having in his PC. They can be PowerPC
processors, MIPS processors, ARM processors, etc.</p><p>Buildroot supports numerous processors and their variants; it also
comes with default configurations for several boards available
off-the-shelf. Besides this, a number of third-party projects are based on,
or develop their BSP <a href="#ftn.idm25" class="footnote" id="idm25"><sup class="footnote">[1]</sup></a> or
SDK <a href="#ftn.idm27" class="footnote" id="idm27"><sup class="footnote">[2]</sup></a> on top of Buildroot.</p><div class="footnotes"><br /><hr style="width:100; text-align:left;margin-left: 0" /><div id="ftn.idm25" class="footnote"><p><a href="#idm25" class="simpara"><sup class="simpara">[1] </sup></a>BSP: Board Support Package</p></div><div id="ftn.idm27" class="footnote"><p><a href="#idm27" class="simpara"><sup class="simpara">[2] </sup></a>SDK: Software Development Kit</p></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="requirement"></a>Chapter 2. System requirements</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot is designed to run on Linux systems.</p><p>While Buildroot itself will build most host packages it needs for the
compilation, certain standard Linux utilities are expected to be
already installed on the host system. Below you will find an overview of
the mandatory and optional packages (note that package names may vary
between distributions).</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="requirement-mandatory"></a>2.1. Mandatory packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Build tools:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">which</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">sed</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make</code> (version 3.81 or any later)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">binutils</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build-essential</code> (only for Debian based systems)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">diffutils</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">gcc</code> (version 4.8 or any later)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">g++</code> (version 4.8 or any later)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">bash</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">patch</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">gzip</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">bzip2</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">perl</code> (version 5.8.7 or any later)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">tar</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cpio</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">unzip</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">rsync</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">file</code> (must be in <code class="literal">/usr/bin/file</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">bc</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">findutils</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Source fetching tools:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">wget</code>
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="requirement-optional"></a>2.2. Optional packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Recommended dependencies:
</p><p class="simpara">Some features or utilities in Buildroot, like the legal-info, or the
graph generation tools, have additional dependencies. Although they
are not mandatory for a simple build, they are still highly recommended:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">python</code> (version 2.7 or any later)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Configuration interface dependencies:
</p><p class="simpara">For these libraries, you need to install both runtime and development
data, which in many distributions are packaged separately. The
development packages typically have a <span class="emphasis"><em>-dev</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>-devel</em></span> suffix.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">ncurses5</code> to use the <span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig</em></span> interface
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">qt5</code> to use the <span class="emphasis"><em>xconfig</em></span> interface
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">glib2</code>, <code class="literal">gtk2</code> and <code class="literal">glade2</code> to use the <span class="emphasis"><em>gconfig</em></span> interface
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Source fetching tools:
</p><p class="simpara">In the official tree, most of the package sources are retrieved using
<code class="literal">wget</code> from <span class="emphasis"><em>ftp</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>http</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>https</em></span> locations. A few packages are only
available through a version control system. Moreover, Buildroot is
capable of downloading sources via other tools, like <code class="literal">git</code> or <code class="literal">scp</code>
(refer to <a class="xref" href="#download-infra" title="Chapter 20. Download infrastructure">Chapter 20, <em>Download infrastructure</em></a> for more details). If you enable
packages using any of these methods, you will need to install the
corresponding tool on the host system:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">bazaar</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cvs</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">git</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">mercurial</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">scp</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">sftp</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">subversion</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Java-related packages, if the Java Classpath needs to be built for
  the target system:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">javac</code> compiler
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">jar</code> tool
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Documentation generation tools:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">asciidoc</code>, version 8.6.3 or higher
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">w3m</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">python</code> with the <code class="literal">argparse</code> module (automatically present in 2.7+ and 3.2+)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">dblatex</code> (required for the pdf manual only)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Graph generation tools:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">graphviz</code> to use <span class="emphasis"><em>graph-depends</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>&lt;pkg&gt;-graph-depends</em></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">python-matplotlib</code> to use <span class="emphasis"><em>graph-build</em></span>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Package statistics tools (<span class="emphasis"><em>pkg-stats</em></span>):
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">python-aiohttp</code>
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="getting-buildroot"></a>Chapter 3. Getting Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot releases are made every 3 months, in February, May, August and
November. Release numbers are in the format YYYY.MM, so for example
2013.02, 2014.08.</p><p>Release tarballs are available at <a class="ulink" href="http://buildroot.org/downloads/" target="_top">http://buildroot.org/downloads/</a>.</p><p>For your convenience, a <a class="ulink" href="https://www.vagrantup.com/" target="_top">Vagrantfile</a> is
available in <code class="literal">support/misc/Vagrantfile</code> in the Buildroot source tree
to quickly set up a virtual machine with the needed dependencies to
get started.</p><p>If you want to setup an isolated buildroot environment on Linux or Mac
Os X, paste this line onto your terminal:</p><pre class="screen">curl -O https://buildroot.org/downloads/Vagrantfile; vagrant up</pre><p>If you are on Windows, paste this into your powershell:</p><pre class="screen">(new-object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile(
"https://buildroot.org/downloads/Vagrantfile","Vagrantfile");
vagrant up</pre><p>If you want to follow development, you can use the daily snapshots or
make a clone of the Git repository. Refer to the
<a class="ulink" href="http://buildroot.org/download" target="_top">Download page</a> of the Buildroot website
for more details.</p></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_buildroot_quick_start"></a>Chapter 4. Buildroot quick start</h2></div></div></div><p><span class="strong"><strong>Important</strong></span>: you can and should <span class="strong"><strong>build everything as a normal user</strong></span>. There
is no need to be root to configure and use Buildroot. By running all
commands as a regular user, you protect your system against packages
behaving badly during compilation and installation.</p><p>The first step when using Buildroot is to create a configuration.
Buildroot has a nice configuration tool similar to the one you can
find in the <a class="ulink" href="http://www.kernel.org/" target="_top">Linux kernel</a> or in
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.busybox.net/" target="_top">BusyBox</a>.</p><p>From the buildroot directory, run</p><pre class="screen"> $ make menuconfig</pre><p>for the original curses-based configurator, or</p><pre class="screen"> $ make nconfig</pre><p>for the new curses-based configurator, or</p><pre class="screen"> $ make xconfig</pre><p>for the Qt-based configurator, or</p><pre class="screen"> $ make gconfig</pre><p>for the GTK-based configurator.</p><p>All of these "make" commands will need to build a configuration
utility (including the interface), so you may need to install
"development" packages for relevant libraries used by the
configuration utilities. Refer to <a class="xref" href="#requirement" title="Chapter 2. System requirements">Chapter 2, <em>System requirements</em></a> for more details,
specifically the <a class="link" href="#requirement-optional" title="2.2. Optional packages">optional requirements</a>
to get the dependencies of your favorite interface.</p><p>For each menu entry in the configuration tool, you can find associated
help that describes the purpose of the entry. Refer to <a class="xref" href="#configure" title="Chapter 6. Buildroot configuration">Chapter 6, <em>Buildroot configuration</em></a>
for details on some specific configuration aspects.</p><p>Once everything is configured, the configuration tool generates a
<code class="literal">.config</code> file that contains the entire configuration. This file will be
read by the top-level Makefile.</p><p>To start the build process, simply run:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make</pre><p>By default, Buildroot does not support top-level parallel build, so
running <code class="literal">make -jN</code> is not necessary. There is however experimental
support for top-level parallel build, see
<a class="xref" href="#top-level-parallel-build" title="8.12. Top-level parallel build">Section 8.12, “Top-level parallel build”</a>.</p><p>The <code class="literal">make</code> command will generally perform the following steps:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
download source files (as required);
</li><li class="listitem">
configure, build and install the cross-compilation toolchain, or
  simply import an external toolchain;
</li><li class="listitem">
configure, build and install selected target packages;
</li><li class="listitem">
build a kernel image, if selected;
</li><li class="listitem">
build a bootloader image, if selected;
</li><li class="listitem">
create a root filesystem in selected formats.
</li></ul></div><p>Buildroot output is stored in a single directory, <code class="literal">output/</code>.
This directory contains several subdirectories:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">images/</code> where all the images (kernel image, bootloader and root
  filesystem images) are stored. These are the files you need to put
  on your target system.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build/</code> where all the components are built (this includes tools
  needed by Buildroot on the host and packages compiled for the
  target). This directory contains one subdirectory for each of these
  components.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">host/</code> contains both the tools built for the host, and the sysroot
  of the target toolchain. The former is an installation of tools
  compiled for the host that are needed for the proper execution of
  Buildroot, including the cross-compilation toolchain. The latter
  is a hierarchy similar to a root filesystem hierarchy. It contains
  the headers and libraries of all user-space packages that provide
  and install libraries used by other packages. However, this
  directory is <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> intended to be the root filesystem for the target:
  it contains a lot of development files, unstripped binaries and
  libraries that make it far too big for an embedded system. These
  development files are used to compile libraries and applications for
  the target that depend on other libraries.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">staging/</code> is a symlink to the target toolchain sysroot inside
  <code class="literal">host/</code>, which exists for backwards compatibility.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">target/</code> which contains <span class="emphasis"><em>almost</em></span> the complete root filesystem for
  the target: everything needed is present except the device files in
  <code class="literal">/dev/</code> (Buildroot can’t create them because Buildroot doesn’t run
  as root and doesn’t want to run as root). Also, it doesn’t have the correct
  permissions (e.g. setuid for the busybox binary). Therefore, this directory
  <span class="strong"><strong>should not be used on your target</strong></span>. Instead, you should use one of
  the images built in the <code class="literal">images/</code> directory. If you need an
  extracted image of the root filesystem for booting over NFS, then
  use the tarball image generated in <code class="literal">images/</code> and extract it as
  root. Compared to <code class="literal">staging/</code>, <code class="literal">target/</code> contains only the files and
  libraries needed to run the selected target applications: the
  development files (headers, etc.) are not present, the binaries are
  stripped.
</li></ul></div><p>These commands, <code class="literal">make menuconfig|nconfig|gconfig|xconfig</code> and <code class="literal">make</code>, are the
basic ones that allow to easily and quickly generate images fitting
your needs, with all the features and applications you enabled.</p><p>More details about the "make" command usage are given in
<a class="xref" href="#make-tips" title="8.1. make tips">Section 8.1, “<span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> tips”</a>.</p></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="community-resources"></a>Chapter 5. Community resources</h2></div></div></div><p>Like any open source project, Buildroot has different ways to share
information in its community and outside.</p><p>Each of those ways may interest you if you are looking for some help,
want to understand Buildroot or contribute to the project.</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
Mailing List
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">Buildroot has a mailing list for discussion and development. It is the
main method of interaction for Buildroot users and developers.</p><p class="simpara">Only subscribers to the Buildroot mailing list are allowed to post to
this list. You can subscribe via the
<a class="ulink" href="http://lists.buildroot.org/mailman/listinfo/buildroot" target="_top">mailing list info
page</a>.</p><p class="simpara">Mails that are sent to the mailing list are also available in the
mailing list archives, available through
<a class="ulink" href="http://lists.buildroot.org/pipermail/buildroot" target="_top">Mailman</a> or at
<a class="ulink" href="https://lore.kernel.org/buildroot/" target="_top">lore.kernel.org</a>.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
IRC
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">The Buildroot IRC channel <a class="ulink" href="irc://irc.oftc.net/#buildroot" target="_top">#buildroot</a> is
hosted on <a class="ulink" href="https://www.oftc.net/WebChat/" target="_top">OFTC</a>. It is a useful place to
ask quick questions or discuss on certain topics.</p><p class="simpara">When asking for help on IRC, share relevant logs or pieces of code
using a code sharing website, such as <a class="ulink" href="https://paste.ack.tf/" target="_top">https://paste.ack.tf/</a>.</p><p class="simpara">Note that for certain questions, posting to the mailing list may be
better as it will reach more people, both developers and users.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
Bug tracker
</span></dt><dd>Bugs in Buildroot can be reported via the mailing list or alternatively
via the <a class="ulink" href="https://bugs.buildroot.org/buglist.cgi?product=buildroot" target="_top">Buildroot
bugtracker</a>. Please refer to <a class="xref" href="#reporting-bugs" title="22.6. Reporting issues/bugs or getting help">Section 22.6, “Reporting issues/bugs or getting help”</a> before creating a bug
report.</dd><dt><span class="term">
Wiki
</span></dt><dd><a class="ulink" href="http://elinux.org/Buildroot" target="_top">The Buildroot wiki page</a> is hosted on
the <a class="ulink" href="http://elinux.org" target="_top">eLinux</a> wiki. It contains some useful links, an
overview of past and upcoming events, and a TODO list.</dd><dt><span class="term">
Patchwork
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">Patchwork is a web-based patch tracking system designed to facilitate
the contribution and management of contributions to an open-source
project. Patches that have been sent to a mailing list are 'caught' by
the system, and appear on a web page. Any comments posted that
reference the patch are appended to the patch page too. For more
information on Patchwork see
<a class="ulink" href="http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/" target="_top">http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/</a>.</p><p class="simpara">Buildroot’s Patchwork website is mainly for use by Buildroot’s
maintainer to ensure patches aren’t missed. It is also used by Buildroot
patch reviewers (see also <a class="xref" href="#apply-patches-patchwork" title="22.3.1. Applying Patches from Patchwork">Section 22.3.1, “Applying Patches from Patchwork”</a>).
However, since the website exposes patches and their corresponding
review comments in a clean and concise web interface, it can be useful
for all Buildroot developers.</p><p class="simpara">The Buildroot patch management interface is available at
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/</a>.</p></dd></dl></div></div></div><div class="part"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="_user_guide"></a>Part II. User guide</h1></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="configure"></a>Chapter 6. Buildroot configuration</h2></div></div></div><p>All the configuration options in <code class="literal">make *config</code> have a help text
providing details about the option.</p><p>The <code class="literal">make *config</code> commands also offer a search tool. Read the help
message in the different frontend menus to know how to use it:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
in <span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig</em></span>, the search tool is called by pressing <code class="literal">/</code>;
</li><li class="listitem">
in <span class="emphasis"><em>xconfig</em></span>, the search tool is called by pressing <code class="literal">Ctrl</code> + <code class="literal">f</code>.
</li></ul></div><p>The result of the search shows the help message of the matching items.
In <span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig</em></span>, numbers in the left column provide a shortcut to the
corresponding entry. Just type this number to directly jump to the
entry, or to the containing menu in case the entry is not selectable due
to a missing dependency.</p><p>Although the menu structure and the help text of the entries should be
sufficiently self-explanatory, a number of topics require additional
explanation that cannot easily be covered in the help text and are
therefore covered in the following sections.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_cross_compilation_toolchain"></a>6.1. Cross-compilation toolchain</h2></div></div></div><p>A compilation toolchain is the set of tools that allows you to compile
code for your system. It consists of a compiler (in our case, <code class="literal">gcc</code>),
binary utils like assembler and linker (in our case, <code class="literal">binutils</code>) and a
C standard library (for example
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html" target="_top">GNU Libc</a>,
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.uclibc-ng.org/" target="_top">uClibc-ng</a>).</p><p>The system installed on your development station certainly already has
a compilation toolchain that you can use to compile an application
that runs on your system. If you’re using a PC, your compilation
toolchain runs on an x86 processor and generates code for an x86
processor. Under most Linux systems, the compilation toolchain uses
the GNU libc (glibc) as the C standard library. This compilation
toolchain is called the "host compilation toolchain". The machine on
which it is running, and on which you’re working, is called the "host
system" <a href="#ftn.idm375" class="footnote" id="idm375"><sup class="footnote">[3]</sup></a>.</p><p>The compilation toolchain is provided by your distribution, and
Buildroot has nothing to do with it (other than using it to build a
cross-compilation toolchain and other tools that are run on the
development host).</p><p>As said above, the compilation toolchain that comes with your system
runs on and generates code for the processor in your host system. As
your embedded system has a different processor, you need a
cross-compilation toolchain - a compilation toolchain that runs on
your <span class="emphasis"><em>host system</em></span> but generates code for your <span class="emphasis"><em>target system</em></span> (and
target processor). For example, if your host system uses x86 and your
target system uses ARM, the regular compilation toolchain on your host
runs on x86 and generates code for x86, while the cross-compilation
toolchain runs on x86 and generates code for ARM.</p><p>Buildroot provides two solutions for the cross-compilation toolchain:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The <span class="strong"><strong>internal toolchain backend</strong></span>, called <code class="literal">Buildroot toolchain</code> in
   the configuration interface.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <span class="strong"><strong>external toolchain backend</strong></span>, called <code class="literal">External toolchain</code> in
   the configuration interface.
</li></ul></div><p>The choice between these two solutions is done using the <code class="literal">Toolchain
Type</code> option in the <code class="literal">Toolchain</code> menu. Once one solution has been
chosen, a number of configuration options appear, they are detailed in
the following sections.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="internal-toolchain-backend"></a>6.1.1. Internal toolchain backend</h3></div></div></div><p>The <span class="emphasis"><em>internal toolchain backend</em></span> is the backend where Buildroot builds
by itself a cross-compilation toolchain, before building the userspace
applications and libraries for your target embedded system.</p><p>This backend supports several C libraries:
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.uclibc-ng.org" target="_top">uClibc-ng</a>,
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html" target="_top">glibc</a> and
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.musl-libc.org" target="_top">musl</a>.</p><p>Once you have selected this backend, a number of options appear. The
most important ones allow to:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Change the version of the Linux kernel headers used to build the
   toolchain. This item deserves a few explanations. In the process of
   building a cross-compilation toolchain, the C library is being
   built. This library provides the interface between userspace
   applications and the Linux kernel. In order to know how to "talk"
   to the Linux kernel, the C library needs to have access to the
   <span class="emphasis"><em>Linux kernel headers</em></span> (i.e. the <code class="literal">.h</code> files from the kernel), which
   define the interface between userspace and the kernel (system
   calls, data structures, etc.). Since this interface is backward
   compatible, the version of the Linux kernel headers used to build
   your toolchain do not need to match <span class="emphasis"><em>exactly</em></span> the version of the
   Linux kernel you intend to run on your embedded system. They only
   need to have a version equal or older to the version of the Linux
   kernel you intend to run. If you use kernel headers that are more
   recent than the Linux kernel you run on your embedded system, then
   the C library might be using interfaces that are not provided by
   your Linux kernel.
</li><li class="listitem">
Change the version of the GCC compiler, binutils and the C library.
</li><li class="listitem">
Select a number of toolchain options (uClibc only): whether the
   toolchain should have RPC support (used mainly for NFS),
   wide-char support, locale support (for internationalization),
   C++ support or thread support. Depending on which options you choose,
   the number of userspace applications and libraries visible in
   Buildroot menus will change: many applications and libraries require
   certain toolchain options to be enabled. Most packages show a comment
   when a certain toolchain option is required to be able to enable
   those packages. If needed, you can further refine the uClibc
   configuration by running <code class="literal">make uclibc-menuconfig</code>. Note however that
   all packages in Buildroot are tested against the default uClibc
   configuration bundled in Buildroot: if you deviate from this
   configuration by removing features from uClibc, some packages may no
   longer build.
</li></ul></div><p>It is worth noting that whenever one of those options is modified,
then the entire toolchain and system must be rebuilt. See
<a class="xref" href="#full-rebuild" title="8.2. Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary">Section 8.2, “Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary”</a>.</p><p>Advantages of this backend:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Well integrated with Buildroot
</li><li class="listitem">
Fast, only builds what’s necessary
</li></ul></div><p>Drawbacks of this backend:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Rebuilding the toolchain is needed when doing <code class="literal">make clean</code>, which
  takes time. If you’re trying to reduce your build time, consider
  using the <span class="emphasis"><em>External toolchain backend</em></span>.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="external-toolchain-backend"></a>6.1.2. External toolchain backend</h3></div></div></div><p>The <span class="emphasis"><em>external toolchain backend</em></span> allows to use existing pre-built
cross-compilation toolchains. Buildroot knows about a number of
well-known cross-compilation toolchains (from
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.linaro.org" target="_top">Linaro</a> for ARM,
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/sourcery-tools/sourcery-codebench/editions/lite-edition/" target="_top">Sourcery
CodeBench</a> for ARM, x86-64, PowerPC, and MIPS, and is capable of
downloading them automatically, or it can be pointed to a custom
toolchain, either available for download or installed locally.</p><p>Then, you have three solutions to use an external toolchain:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Use a predefined external toolchain profile, and let Buildroot
  download, extract and install the toolchain. Buildroot already knows
  about a few CodeSourcery and Linaro toolchains. Just select the
  toolchain profile in <code class="literal">Toolchain</code> from the available ones. This is
  definitely the easiest solution.
</li><li class="listitem">
Use a predefined external toolchain profile, but instead of having
  Buildroot download and extract the toolchain, you can tell Buildroot
  where your toolchain is already installed on your system. Just
  select the toolchain profile in <code class="literal">Toolchain</code> through the available
  ones, unselect <code class="literal">Download toolchain automatically</code>, and fill the
  <code class="literal">Toolchain path</code> text entry with the path to your cross-compiling
  toolchain.
</li><li class="listitem">
Use a completely custom external toolchain. This is particularly
  useful for toolchains generated using crosstool-NG or with Buildroot
  itself. To do this, select the <code class="literal">Custom toolchain</code> solution in the
  <code class="literal">Toolchain</code> list. You need to fill the <code class="literal">Toolchain path</code>, <code class="literal">Toolchain
  prefix</code> and <code class="literal">External toolchain C library</code> options. Then, you have
  to tell Buildroot what your external toolchain supports. If your
  external toolchain uses the <span class="emphasis"><em>glibc</em></span> library, you only have to tell
  whether your toolchain supports C++ or not and whether it has
  built-in RPC support. If your external toolchain uses the <span class="emphasis"><em>uClibc</em></span>
  library, then you have to tell Buildroot if it supports RPC,
  wide-char, locale, program invocation, threads and C++.
  At the beginning of the execution, Buildroot will tell you if
  the selected options do not match the toolchain configuration.
</li></ul></div><p>Our external toolchain support has been tested with toolchains from
CodeSourcery and Linaro, toolchains generated by
<a class="ulink" href="http://crosstool-ng.org" target="_top">crosstool-NG</a>, and toolchains generated by
Buildroot itself. In general, all toolchains that support the
<span class="emphasis"><em>sysroot</em></span> feature should work. If not, do not hesitate to contact the
developers.</p><p>We do not support toolchains or SDK generated by OpenEmbedded or
Yocto, because these toolchains are not pure toolchains (i.e. just the
compiler, binutils, the C and C++ libraries). Instead these toolchains
come with a very large set of pre-compiled libraries and
programs. Therefore, Buildroot cannot import the <span class="emphasis"><em>sysroot</em></span> of the
toolchain, as it would contain hundreds of megabytes of pre-compiled
libraries that are normally built by Buildroot.</p><p>We also do not support using the distribution toolchain (i.e. the
gcc/binutils/C library installed by your distribution) as the
toolchain to build software for the target. This is because your
distribution toolchain is not a "pure" toolchain (i.e. only with the
C/C++ library), so we cannot import it properly into the Buildroot
build environment. So even if you are building a system for a x86 or
x86_64 target, you have to generate a cross-compilation toolchain with
Buildroot or crosstool-NG.</p><p>If you want to generate a custom toolchain for your project, that can
be used as an external toolchain in Buildroot, our recommendation is
to build it either with Buildroot itself (see
<a class="xref" href="#build-toolchain-with-buildroot" title="6.1.3. Build an external toolchain with Buildroot">Section 6.1.3, “Build an external toolchain with Buildroot”</a>) or with
<a class="ulink" href="http://crosstool-ng.org" target="_top">crosstool-NG</a>.</p><p>Advantages of this backend:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Allows to use well-known and well-tested cross-compilation
  toolchains.
</li><li class="listitem">
Avoids the build time of the cross-compilation toolchain, which is
  often very significant in the overall build time of an embedded
  Linux system.
</li></ul></div><p>Drawbacks of this backend:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If your pre-built external toolchain has a bug, may be hard to get a
  fix from the toolchain vendor, unless you build your external
  toolchain by yourself using Buildroot or Crosstool-NG.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="build-toolchain-with-buildroot"></a>6.1.3. Build an external toolchain with Buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p>The Buildroot internal toolchain option can be used to create an
external toolchain. Here are a series of steps to build an internal
toolchain and package it up for reuse by Buildroot itself (or other
projects).</p><p>Create a new Buildroot configuration, with the following details:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Select the appropriate <span class="strong"><strong>Target options</strong></span> for your target CPU
  architecture
</li><li class="listitem">
In the <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain</strong></span> menu, keep the default of <span class="strong"><strong>Buildroot toolchain</strong></span>
  for <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain type</strong></span>, and configure your toolchain as desired
</li><li class="listitem">
In the <span class="strong"><strong>System configuration</strong></span> menu, select <span class="strong"><strong>None</strong></span> as the <span class="strong"><strong>Init
  system</strong></span> and <span class="strong"><strong>none</strong></span> as <span class="strong"><strong>/bin/sh</strong></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
In the <span class="strong"><strong>Target packages</strong></span> menu, disable <span class="strong"><strong>BusyBox</strong></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
In the <span class="strong"><strong>Filesystem images</strong></span> menu, disable <span class="strong"><strong>tar the root filesystem</strong></span>
</li></ul></div><p>Then, we can trigger the build, and also ask Buildroot to generate a
SDK. This will conveniently generate for us a tarball which contains
our toolchain:</p><pre class="screen">make sdk</pre><p>This produces the SDK tarball in <code class="literal">$(O)/images</code>, with a name similar to
<code class="literal">arm-buildroot-linux-uclibcgnueabi_sdk-buildroot.tar.gz</code>. Save this
tarball, as it is now the toolchain that you can re-use as an external
toolchain in other Buildroot projects.</p><p>In those other Buildroot projects, in the <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain</strong></span> menu:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Set <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain type</strong></span> to <span class="strong"><strong>External toolchain</strong></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
Set <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain</strong></span> to <span class="strong"><strong>Custom toolchain</strong></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
Set <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain origin</strong></span> to <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain to be downloaded and installed</strong></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
Set <span class="strong"><strong>Toolchain URL</strong></span> to <code class="literal">file:///path/to/your/sdk/tarball.tar.gz</code>
</li></ul></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_external_toolchain_wrapper"></a>External toolchain wrapper</h4></div></div></div><p>When using an external toolchain, Buildroot generates a wrapper program,
that transparently passes the appropriate options (according to the
configuration) to the external toolchain programs. In case you need to
debug this wrapper to check exactly what arguments are passed, you can
set the environment variable <code class="literal">BR2_DEBUG_WRAPPER</code> to either one of:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">0</code>, empty or not set: no debug
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">1</code>: trace all arguments on a single line
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">2</code>: trace one argument per line
</li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_dev_management"></a>6.2. /dev management</h2></div></div></div><p>On a Linux system, the <code class="literal">/dev</code> directory contains special files, called
<span class="emphasis"><em>device files</em></span>, that allow userspace applications to access the
hardware devices managed by the Linux kernel. Without these <span class="emphasis"><em>device
files</em></span>, your userspace applications would not be able to use the
hardware devices, even if they are properly recognized by the Linux
kernel.</p><p>Under <code class="literal">System configuration</code>, <code class="literal">/dev management</code>, Buildroot offers four
different solutions to handle the <code class="literal">/dev</code> directory :</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The first solution is <span class="strong"><strong>Static using device table</strong></span>. This is the old
   classical way of handling device files in Linux. With this method,
   the device files are persistently stored in the root filesystem
   (i.e. they persist across reboots), and there is nothing that will
   automatically create and remove those device files when hardware
   devices are added or removed from the system. Buildroot therefore
   creates a standard set of device files using a <span class="emphasis"><em>device table</em></span>, the
   default one being stored in <code class="literal">system/device_table_dev.txt</code> in the
   Buildroot source code. This file is processed when Buildroot
   generates the final root filesystem image, and the <span class="emphasis"><em>device files</em></span>
   are therefore not visible in the <code class="literal">output/target</code> directory. The
   <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_STATIC_DEVICE_TABLE</code> option allows to change the
   default device table used by Buildroot, or to add an additional
   device table, so that additional <span class="emphasis"><em>device files</em></span> are created by
   Buildroot during the build. So, if you use this method, and a
   <span class="emphasis"><em>device file</em></span> is missing in your system, you can for example create
   a <code class="literal">board/&lt;yourcompany&gt;/&lt;yourproject&gt;/device_table_dev.txt</code> file
   that contains the description of your additional <span class="emphasis"><em>device files</em></span>,
   and then you can set <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_STATIC_DEVICE_TABLE</code> to
   <code class="literal">system/device_table_dev.txt
   board/&lt;yourcompany&gt;/&lt;yourproject&gt;/device_table_dev.txt</code>. For more
   details about the format of the device table file, see
   <a class="xref" href="#makedev-syntax" title="Chapter 25. Makedev syntax documentation">Chapter 25, <em>Makedev syntax documentation</em></a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
The second solution is <span class="strong"><strong>Dynamic using devtmpfs only</strong></span>. <span class="emphasis"><em>devtmpfs</em></span> is
   a virtual filesystem inside the Linux kernel that has been
   introduced in kernel 2.6.32 (if you use an older kernel, it is not
   possible to use this option). When mounted in <code class="literal">/dev</code>, this virtual
   filesystem will automatically make <span class="emphasis"><em>device files</em></span> appear and
   disappear as hardware devices are added and removed from the
   system. This filesystem is not persistent across reboots: it is
   filled dynamically by the kernel. Using <span class="emphasis"><em>devtmpfs</em></span> requires the
   following kernel configuration options to be enabled:
   <code class="literal">CONFIG_DEVTMPFS</code> and <code class="literal">CONFIG_DEVTMPFS_MOUNT</code>. When Buildroot is in
   charge of building the Linux kernel for your embedded device, it
   makes sure that those two options are enabled. However, if you
   build your Linux kernel outside of Buildroot, then it is your
   responsibility to enable those two options (if you fail to do so,
   your Buildroot system will not boot).
</li><li class="listitem">
The third solution is <span class="strong"><strong>Dynamic using devtmpfs + mdev</strong></span>. This method
   also relies on the <span class="emphasis"><em>devtmpfs</em></span> virtual filesystem detailed above (so
   the requirement to have <code class="literal">CONFIG_DEVTMPFS</code> and
   <code class="literal">CONFIG_DEVTMPFS_MOUNT</code> enabled in the kernel configuration still
   apply), but adds the <code class="literal">mdev</code> userspace utility on top of it. <code class="literal">mdev</code>
   is a program part of BusyBox that the kernel will call every time a
   device is added or removed. Thanks to the <code class="literal">/etc/mdev.conf</code>
   configuration file, <code class="literal">mdev</code> can be configured to for example, set
   specific permissions or ownership on a device file, call a script
   or application whenever a device appears or disappear,
   etc. Basically, it allows <span class="emphasis"><em>userspace</em></span> to react on device addition
   and removal events. <code class="literal">mdev</code> can for example be used to automatically
   load kernel modules when devices appear on the system. <code class="literal">mdev</code> is
   also important if you have devices that require a firmware, as it
   will be responsible for pushing the firmware contents to the
   kernel. <code class="literal">mdev</code> is a lightweight implementation (with fewer
   features) of <code class="literal">udev</code>. For more details about <code class="literal">mdev</code> and the syntax
   of its configuration file, see
   <a class="ulink" href="http://git.busybox.net/busybox/tree/docs/mdev.txt" target="_top">http://git.busybox.net/busybox/tree/docs/mdev.txt</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
The fourth solution is <span class="strong"><strong>Dynamic using devtmpfs + eudev</strong></span>. This
   method also relies on the <span class="emphasis"><em>devtmpfs</em></span> virtual filesystem detailed
   above, but adds the <code class="literal">eudev</code> userspace daemon on top of it. <code class="literal">eudev</code>
   is a daemon that runs in the background, and gets called by the
   kernel when a device gets added or removed from the system. It is a
   more heavyweight solution than <code class="literal">mdev</code>, but provides higher
   flexibility.  <code class="literal">eudev</code> is a standalone version of <code class="literal">udev</code>, the
   original userspace daemon used in most desktop Linux distributions,
   which is now part of Systemd. For more details, see
   <a class="ulink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udev" target="_top">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udev</a>.
</li></ul></div><p>The Buildroot developers recommendation is to start with the <span class="strong"><strong>Dynamic
using devtmpfs only</strong></span> solution, until you have the need for userspace
to be notified when devices are added/removed, or if firmwares are
needed, in which case <span class="strong"><strong>Dynamic using devtmpfs + mdev</strong></span> is usually a
good solution.</p><p>Note that if <code class="literal">systemd</code> is chosen as init system, /dev management will
be performed by the <code class="literal">udev</code> program provided by <code class="literal">systemd</code>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="init-system"></a>6.3. init system</h2></div></div></div><p>The <span class="emphasis"><em>init</em></span> program is the first userspace program started by the
kernel (it carries the PID number 1), and is responsible for starting
the userspace services and programs (for example: web server,
graphical applications, other network servers, etc.).</p><p>Buildroot allows to use three different types of init systems, which
can be chosen from <code class="literal">System configuration</code>, <code class="literal">Init system</code>:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The first solution is <span class="strong"><strong>BusyBox</strong></span>. Amongst many programs, BusyBox has
   an implementation of a basic <code class="literal">init</code> program, which is sufficient
   for most embedded systems. Enabling the <code class="literal">BR2_INIT_BUSYBOX</code> will
   ensure BusyBox will build and install its <code class="literal">init</code> program. This is
   the default solution in Buildroot. The BusyBox <code class="literal">init</code> program will
   read the <code class="literal">/etc/inittab</code> file at boot to know what to do. The syntax
   of this file can be found in
   <a class="ulink" href="http://git.busybox.net/busybox/tree/examples/inittab" target="_top">http://git.busybox.net/busybox/tree/examples/inittab</a> (note that
   BusyBox <code class="literal">inittab</code> syntax is special: do not use a random <code class="literal">inittab</code>
   documentation from the Internet to learn about BusyBox
   <code class="literal">inittab</code>). The default <code class="literal">inittab</code> in Buildroot is stored in
   <code class="literal">package/busybox/inittab</code>. Apart from mounting a few important
   filesystems, the main job the default inittab does is to start the
   <code class="literal">/etc/init.d/rcS</code> shell script, and start a <code class="literal">getty</code> program (which
   provides a login prompt).
</li><li class="listitem">
The second solution is <span class="strong"><strong>systemV</strong></span>. This solution uses the old
   traditional <span class="emphasis"><em>sysvinit</em></span> program, packed in Buildroot in
   <code class="literal">package/sysvinit</code>. This was the solution used in most desktop
   Linux distributions, until they switched to more recent
   alternatives such as Upstart or Systemd. <code class="literal">sysvinit</code> also works with
   an <code class="literal">inittab</code> file (which has a slightly different syntax than the
   one from BusyBox). The default <code class="literal">inittab</code> installed with this init
   solution is located in <code class="literal">package/sysvinit/inittab</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
The third solution is <span class="strong"><strong>systemd</strong></span>. <code class="literal">systemd</code> is the new generation
   init system for Linux. It does far more than traditional <span class="emphasis"><em>init</em></span>
   programs: aggressive parallelization capabilities, uses socket and
   D-Bus activation for starting services, offers on-demand starting
   of daemons, keeps track of processes using Linux control groups,
   supports snapshotting and restoring of the system state,
   etc. <code class="literal">systemd</code> will be useful on relatively complex embedded
   systems, for example the ones requiring D-Bus and services
   communicating between each other. It is worth noting that <code class="literal">systemd</code>
   brings a fairly big number of large dependencies: <code class="literal">dbus</code>, <code class="literal">udev</code>
   and more. For more details about <code class="literal">systemd</code>, see
   <a class="ulink" href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd" target="_top">http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd</a>.
</li></ul></div><p>The solution recommended by Buildroot developers is to use the
<span class="strong"><strong>BusyBox init</strong></span> as it is sufficient for most embedded
systems. <span class="strong"><strong>systemd</strong></span> can be used for more complex situations.</p></div><div class="footnotes"><br /><hr style="width:100; text-align:left;margin-left: 0" /><div id="ftn.idm375" class="footnote"><p><a href="#idm375" class="simpara"><sup class="simpara">[3] </sup></a>This terminology differs from what is used by GNU
configure, where the host is the machine on which the application will
run (which is usually the same as target)</p></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_configuration_of_other_components"></a>Chapter 7. Configuration of other components</h2></div></div></div><p>Before attempting to modify any of the components below, make sure you
have already configured Buildroot itself, and have enabled the
corresponding package.</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
BusyBox
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">If you already have a BusyBox configuration file, you can directly
specify this file in the Buildroot configuration, using
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_CONFIG</code>. Otherwise, Buildroot will start from a
default BusyBox configuration file.</p><p class="simpara">To make subsequent changes to the configuration, use <code class="literal">make
busybox-menuconfig</code> to open the BusyBox configuration editor.</p><p class="simpara">It is also possible to specify a BusyBox configuration file through an
environment variable, although this is not recommended. Refer to
<a class="xref" href="#env-vars" title="8.6. Environment variables">Section 8.6, “Environment variables”</a> for more details.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
uClibc
</span></dt><dd>Configuration of uClibc is done in the same way as for BusyBox. The
configuration variable to specify an existing configuration file is
<code class="literal">BR2_UCLIBC_CONFIG</code>. The command to make subsequent changes is <code class="literal">make
uclibc-menuconfig</code>.</dd><dt><span class="term">
Linux kernel
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">If you already have a kernel configuration file, you can directly
specify this file in the Buildroot configuration, using
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG</code>.</p><p class="simpara">If you do not yet have a kernel configuration file, you can either start
by specifying a defconfig in the Buildroot configuration, using
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_USE_DEFCONFIG</code>, or start by creating an empty file and
specifying it as custom configuration file, using
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG</code>.</p><p class="simpara">To make subsequent changes to the configuration, use <code class="literal">make
linux-menuconfig</code> to open the Linux configuration editor.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
Barebox
</span></dt><dd>Configuration of Barebox is done in the same way as for the Linux
kernel. The corresponding configuration variables are
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_BAREBOX_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG</code> and
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_BAREBOX_USE_DEFCONFIG</code>. To open the configuration editor,
use <code class="literal">make barebox-menuconfig</code>.</dd><dt><span class="term">
U-Boot
</span></dt><dd>Configuration of U-Boot (version 2015.04 or newer) is done in the same
way as for the Linux kernel. The corresponding configuration variables
are <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIG</code> and
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_USE_DEFCONFIG</code>. To open the configuration editor,
use <code class="literal">make uboot-menuconfig</code>.</dd></dl></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_general_buildroot_usage"></a>Chapter 8. General Buildroot usage</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="make-tips"></a>8.1. <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> tips</h2></div></div></div><p>This is a collection of tips that help you make the most of Buildroot.</p><p><strong>Display all commands executed by make: </strong>
</p><pre class="screen"> $ make V=1 &lt;target&gt;</pre><p>
</p><p><strong>Display the list of boards with a defconfig: </strong>
</p><pre class="screen"> $ make list-defconfigs</pre><p>
</p><p><strong>Display all available targets: </strong>
</p><pre class="screen"> $ make help</pre><p>
</p><p>Not all targets are always available,
some settings in the <code class="literal">.config</code> file may hide some targets:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">busybox-menuconfig</code> only works when <code class="literal">busybox</code> is enabled;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">linux-menuconfig</code> and <code class="literal">linux-savedefconfig</code> only work when
  <code class="literal">linux</code> is enabled;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uclibc-menuconfig</code> is only available when the uClibc C library is
  selected in the internal toolchain backend;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">barebox-menuconfig</code> and <code class="literal">barebox-savedefconfig</code> only work when the
  <code class="literal">barebox</code> bootloader is enabled.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uboot-menuconfig</code> and <code class="literal">uboot-savedefconfig</code> only work when the
  <code class="literal">U-Boot</code> bootloader is enabled and the <code class="literal">uboot</code> build system is set
  to <code class="literal">Kconfig</code>.
</li></ul></div><p><strong>Cleaning: </strong>Explicit cleaning is required when any of the architecture or toolchain
configuration options are changed.</p><p>To delete all build products (including build directories, host, staging
and target trees, the images and the toolchain):</p><pre class="screen"> $ make clean</pre><p><strong>Generating the manual: </strong>The present manual sources are located in the <span class="emphasis"><em>docs/manual</em></span> directory.
To generate the manual:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make manual-clean
 $ make manual</pre><p>The manual outputs will be generated in <span class="emphasis"><em>output/docs/manual</em></span>.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><p class="title"><strong>Notes</strong></p><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
A few tools are required to build the documentation (see:
  <a class="xref" href="#requirement-optional" title="2.2. Optional packages">Section 2.2, “Optional packages”</a>).
</li></ul></div><p><strong>Resetting Buildroot for a new target: </strong>To delete all build products as well as the configuration:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make distclean</pre><p><strong>Notes. </strong>If <code class="literal">ccache</code> is enabled, running <code class="literal">make clean</code> or <code class="literal">distclean</code> does
not empty the compiler cache used by Buildroot. To delete it, refer
to <a class="xref" href="#ccache" title="8.13.3. Using ccache in Buildroot">Section 8.13.3, “Using <code class="literal">ccache</code> in Buildroot”</a>.</p><p><strong>Dumping the internal make variables: </strong>One can dump the variables known to make, along with their values:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make -s printvars VARS='VARIABLE1 VARIABLE2'
 VARIABLE1=value_of_variable
 VARIABLE2=value_of_variable</pre><p>It is possible to tweak the output using some variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">VARS</code> will limit the listing to variables which names match the
  specified make-patterns - this must be set else nothing is printed
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">QUOTED_VARS</code>, if set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, will single-quote the value
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">RAW_VARS</code>, if set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, will print the unexpanded value
</li></ul></div><p>For example:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make -s printvars VARS=BUSYBOX_%DEPENDENCIES
 BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES=skeleton toolchain
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_ALL_DEPENDENCIES=skeleton toolchain
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_DEPENDENCIES=skeleton toolchain
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES=
 BUSYBOX_RDEPENDENCIES=ncurses util-linux</pre><pre class="screen"> $ make -s printvars VARS=BUSYBOX_%DEPENDENCIES QUOTED_VARS=YES
 BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES='skeleton toolchain'
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_ALL_DEPENDENCIES='skeleton toolchain'
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_DEPENDENCIES='skeleton toolchain'
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES=''
 BUSYBOX_RDEPENDENCIES='ncurses util-linux'</pre><pre class="screen"> $ make -s printvars VARS=BUSYBOX_%DEPENDENCIES RAW_VARS=YES
 BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES=skeleton toolchain
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_ALL_DEPENDENCIES=$(sort $(BUSYBOX_FINAL_DEPENDENCIES) $(BUSYBOX_FINAL_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES))
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_DEPENDENCIES=$(sort $(BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES))
 BUSYBOX_FINAL_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES=$(sort $(BUSYBOX_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES))
 BUSYBOX_RDEPENDENCIES=ncurses util-linux</pre><p>The output of quoted variables can be reused in shell scripts, for example:</p><pre class="screen"> $ eval $(make -s printvars VARS=BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES QUOTED_VARS=YES)
 $ echo $BUSYBOX_DEPENDENCIES
 skeleton toolchain</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="full-rebuild"></a>8.2. Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot does not attempt to detect what parts of the system should
be rebuilt when the system configuration is changed through <code class="literal">make
menuconfig</code>, <code class="literal">make xconfig</code> or one of the other configuration
tools. In some cases, Buildroot should rebuild the entire system, in
some cases, only a specific subset of packages. But detecting this in
a completely reliable manner is very difficult, and therefore the
Buildroot developers have decided to simply not attempt to do this.</p><p>Instead, it is the responsibility of the user to know when a full
rebuild is necessary. As a hint, here are a few rules of thumb that
can help you understand how to work with Buildroot:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
When the target architecture configuration is changed, a complete
   rebuild is needed. Changing the architecture variant, the binary
   format or the floating point strategy for example has an impact on
   the entire system.
</li><li class="listitem">
When the toolchain configuration is changed, a complete rebuild
   generally is needed. Changing the toolchain configuration often
   involves changing the compiler version, the type of C library or
   its configuration, or some other fundamental configuration item,
   and these changes have an impact on the entire system.
</li><li class="listitem">
When an additional package is added to the configuration, a full
   rebuild is not necessarily needed. Buildroot will detect that this
   package has never been built, and will build it. However, if this
   package is a library that can optionally be used by packages that
   have already been built, Buildroot will not automatically rebuild
   those. Either you know which packages should be rebuilt, and you
   can rebuild them manually, or you should do a full rebuild. For
   example, let’s suppose you have built a system with the <code class="literal">ctorrent</code>
   package, but without <code class="literal">openssl</code>. Your system works, but you realize
   you would like to have SSL support in <code class="literal">ctorrent</code>, so you enable the
   <code class="literal">openssl</code> package in Buildroot configuration and restart the
   build. Buildroot will detect that <code class="literal">openssl</code> should be built and
   will be build it, but it will not detect that <code class="literal">ctorrent</code> should be
   rebuilt to benefit from <code class="literal">openssl</code> to add OpenSSL support. You will
   either have to do a full rebuild, or rebuild <code class="literal">ctorrent</code> itself.
</li><li class="listitem">
When a package is removed from the configuration, Buildroot does
   not do anything special. It does not remove the files installed by
   this package from the target root filesystem or from the toolchain
   <span class="emphasis"><em>sysroot</em></span>. A full rebuild is needed to get rid of this
   package. However, generally you don’t necessarily need this package
   to be removed right now: you can wait for the next lunch break to
   restart the build from scratch.
</li><li class="listitem">
When the sub-options of a package are changed, the package is not
   automatically rebuilt. After making such changes, rebuilding only
   this package is often sufficient, unless enabling the package
   sub-option adds some features to the package that are useful for
   another package which has already been built. Again, Buildroot does
   not track when a package should be rebuilt: once a package has been
   built, it is never rebuilt unless explicitly told to do so.
</li><li class="listitem">
When a change to the root filesystem skeleton is made, a full
   rebuild is needed. However, when changes to the root filesystem
   overlay, a post-build script or a post-image script are made,
   there is no need for a full rebuild: a simple <code class="literal">make</code> invocation
   will take the changes into account.
</li><li class="listitem">
When a package listed in <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> is rebuilt or removed,
   the package <code class="literal">foo</code> is not automatically rebuilt. For example, if a
   package <code class="literal">bar</code> is listed in <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> with <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES
   = bar</code> and the configuration of the <code class="literal">bar</code> package is changed, the
   configuration change would not result in a rebuild of package <code class="literal">foo</code>
   automatically. In this scenario, you may need to either rebuild any
   packages in your build which reference <code class="literal">bar</code> in their <code class="literal">DEPENDENCIES</code>,
   or perform a full rebuild to ensure any <code class="literal">bar</code> dependent packages are
   up to date.
</li></ul></div><p>Generally speaking, when you’re facing a build error and you’re unsure
of the potential consequences of the configuration changes you’ve
made, do a full rebuild. If you get the same build error, then you are
sure that the error is not related to partial rebuilds of packages,
and if this error occurs with packages from the official Buildroot, do
not hesitate to report the problem! As your experience with Buildroot
progresses, you will progressively learn when a full rebuild is really
necessary, and you will save more and more time.</p><p>For reference, a full rebuild is achieved by running:</p><pre class="screen">$ make clean all</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="rebuild-pkg"></a>8.3. Understanding how to rebuild packages</h2></div></div></div><p>One of the most common questions asked by Buildroot users is how to
rebuild a given package or how to remove a package without rebuilding
everything from scratch.</p><p>Removing a package is unsupported by Buildroot without
rebuilding from scratch. This is because Buildroot doesn’t keep track
of which package installs what files in the <code class="literal">output/staging</code> and
<code class="literal">output/target</code> directories, or which package would be compiled differently
depending on the availability of another package.</p><p>The easiest way to rebuild a single package from scratch is to remove
its build directory in <code class="literal">output/build</code>. Buildroot will then re-extract,
re-configure, re-compile and re-install this package from scratch. You
can ask buildroot to do this with the <code class="literal">make &lt;package&gt;-dirclean</code> command.</p><p>On the other hand, if you only want to restart the build process of a
package from its compilation step, you can run <code class="literal">make &lt;package&gt;-rebuild</code>. It
will restart the compilation and installation of the package, but not from
scratch: it basically re-executes <code class="literal">make</code> and <code class="literal">make install</code> inside the package,
so it will only rebuild files that changed.</p><p>If you want to restart the build process of a package from its configuration
step, you can run <code class="literal">make &lt;package&gt;-reconfigure</code>. It will restart the
configuration, compilation and installation of the package.</p><p>While <code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;-rebuild</code> implies <code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;-reinstall</code> and
<code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;-reconfigure</code> implies <code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;-rebuild</code>, these targets as well
as <code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;</code> only act on the said package, and do not trigger re-creating
the root filesystem image. If re-creating the root filesystem in necessary,
one should in addition run <code class="literal">make</code> or <code class="literal">make all</code>.</p><p>Internally, Buildroot creates so-called <span class="emphasis"><em>stamp files</em></span> to keep track of
which build steps have been completed for each package. They are
stored in the package build directory,
<code class="literal">output/build/&lt;package&gt;-&lt;version&gt;/</code> and are named
<code class="literal">.stamp_&lt;step-name&gt;</code>. The commands detailed above simply manipulate
these stamp files to force Buildroot to restart a specific set of
steps of a package build process.</p><p>Further details about package special make targets are explained in
<a class="xref" href="#pkg-build-steps" title="8.13.5. Package-specific make targets">Section 8.13.5, “Package-specific <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> targets”</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_offline_builds"></a>8.4. Offline builds</h2></div></div></div><p>If you intend to do an offline build and just want to download
all sources that you previously selected in the configurator
(<span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>nconfig</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>xconfig</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>gconfig</em></span>), then issue:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make source</pre><p>You can now disconnect or copy the content of your <code class="literal">dl</code>
directory to the build-host.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_building_out_of_tree"></a>8.5. Building out-of-tree</h2></div></div></div><p>As default, everything built by Buildroot is stored in the directory
<code class="literal">output</code> in the Buildroot tree.</p><p>Buildroot also supports building out of tree with a syntax similar to
the Linux kernel. To use it, add <code class="literal">O=&lt;directory&gt;</code> to the make command
line:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make O=/tmp/build menuconfig</pre><p>Or:</p><pre class="screen"> $ cd /tmp/build; make O=$PWD -C path/to/buildroot menuconfig</pre><p>All the output files will be located under <code class="literal">/tmp/build</code>. If the <code class="literal">O</code>
path does not exist, Buildroot will create it.</p><p><span class="strong"><strong>Note:</strong></span> the <code class="literal">O</code> path can be either an absolute or a relative path, but if it’s
passed as a relative path, it is important to note that it is interpreted
relative to the main Buildroot source directory, <span class="strong"><strong>not</strong></span> the current working
directory.</p><p>When using out-of-tree builds, the Buildroot <code class="literal">.config</code> and temporary
files are also stored in the output directory. This means that you can
safely run multiple builds in parallel using the same source tree as
long as they use unique output directories.</p><p>For ease of use, Buildroot generates a Makefile wrapper in the output
directory - so after the first run, you no longer need to pass <code class="literal">O=&lt;…&gt;</code>
and <code class="literal">-C &lt;…&gt;</code>, simply run (in the output directory):</p><pre class="screen"> $ make &lt;target&gt;</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="env-vars"></a>8.6. Environment variables</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot also honors some environment variables, when they are passed
to <code class="literal">make</code> or set in the environment:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOSTCXX</code>, the host C++ compiler to use
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOSTCC</code>, the host C compiler to use
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">UCLIBC_CONFIG_FILE=&lt;path/to/.config&gt;</code>, path to
  the uClibc configuration file, used to compile uClibc, if an
  internal toolchain is being built.
 
  Note that the uClibc configuration file can also be set from the
  configuration interface, so through the Buildroot <code class="literal">.config</code> file; this
  is the recommended way of setting it.
 
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUSYBOX_CONFIG_FILE=&lt;path/to/.config&gt;</code>, path to
  the BusyBox configuration file.
 
  Note that the BusyBox configuration file can also be set from the
  configuration interface, so through the Buildroot <code class="literal">.config</code> file; this
  is the recommended way of setting it.
 
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_CCACHE_DIR</code> to override the directory where
  Buildroot stores the cached files when using ccache.
 
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code> to override the directory in which
  Buildroot stores/retrieves downloaded files.
 
  Note that the Buildroot download directory can also be set from the
  configuration interface, so through the Buildroot <code class="literal">.config</code> file. See
  <a class="xref" href="#download-location" title="8.13.4. Location of downloaded packages">Section 8.13.4, “Location of downloaded packages”</a> for more details on how you can set the download
  directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_ALT</code>, if set and non-empty, to use an alternate color-scheme in
  build-time graphs
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_OUT</code> to set the filetype of generated graphs, either <code class="literal">pdf</code> (the
  default), or <code class="literal">png</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_DEPS_OPTS</code> to pass extra options to the dependency graph; see
  <a class="xref" href="#graph-depends">Section 8.9, “Graphing the dependencies between packages”</a> for the accepted options
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_DOT_OPTS</code> is passed verbatim as options to the <code class="literal">dot</code> utility to
  draw the dependency graph.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_SIZE_OPTS</code> to pass extra options to the size graph; see
  <a class="xref" href="#graph-size" title="8.11. Graphing the filesystem size contribution of packages">Section 8.11, “Graphing the filesystem size contribution of packages”</a> for the acepted options
</li></ul></div><p>An example that uses config files located in the toplevel directory and
in your $HOME:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make UCLIBC_CONFIG_FILE=uClibc.config BUSYBOX_CONFIG_FILE=$HOME/bb.config</pre><p>If you want to use a compiler other than the default <code class="literal">gcc</code>
or <code class="literal">g</code>++ for building helper-binaries on your host, then do</p><pre class="screen"> $ make HOSTCXX=g++-4.3-HEAD HOSTCC=gcc-4.3-HEAD</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_dealing_efficiently_with_filesystem_images"></a>8.7. Dealing efficiently with filesystem images</h2></div></div></div><p>Filesystem images can get pretty big, depending on the filesystem you choose,
the number of packages, whether you provisioned free space… Yet, some
locations in the filesystems images may just be <span class="emphasis"><em>empty</em></span> (e.g. a long run of
<span class="emphasis"><em>zeroes</em></span>); such a file is called a <span class="emphasis"><em>sparse</em></span> file.</p><p>Most tools can handle sparse files efficiently, and will only store or write
those parts of a sparse file that are not empty.</p><p>For example:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">tar</code> accepts the <code class="literal">-S</code> option to tell it to only store non-zero blocks
  of sparse files:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">tar cf archive.tar -S [files…]</code> will efficiently store sparse files
   in a tarball
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">tar xf archive.tar -S</code> will efficiently store sparse files extracted
   from a tarball
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">cp</code> accepts the <code class="literal">--sparse=WHEN</code> option (<code class="literal">WHEN</code> is one of <code class="literal">auto</code>,
  <code class="literal">never</code> or <code class="literal">always</code>):
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cp --sparse=always source.file dest.file</code> will make <code class="literal">dest.file</code> a
   sparse file if <code class="literal">source.file</code> has long runs of zeroes
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div><p>Other tools may have similar options. Please consult their respective man
pages.</p><p>You can use sparse files if you need to store the filesystem images (e.g.
to transfer from one machine to another), or if you need to send them (e.g.
to the Q&amp;A team).</p><p>Note however that flashing a filesystem image to a device while using the
sparse mode of <code class="literal">dd</code> may result in a broken filesystem (e.g. the block bitmap
of an ext2 filesystem may be corrupted; or, if you have sparse files in
your filesystem, those parts may not be all-zeroes when read back). You
should only use sparse files when handling files on the build machine, not
when transferring them to an actual device that will be used on the target.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_details_about_packages"></a>8.8. Details about packages</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="package-details"></a>Buildroot can produce a JSON blurb that describes the set of enabled
packages in the current configuration, together with their
dependencies, licenses and other metadata. This JSON blurb is produced
by using the <code class="literal">show-info</code> make target:</p><pre class="screen">make show-info</pre><p>Buildroot can also produce details about packages as HTML and JSON
output using the <code class="literal">pkg-stats</code> make target. Amongst other things, these
details include whether known CVEs (security vulnerabilities) affect
the packages in your current configuration. It also shows if there is
a newer upstream version for those packages.</p><pre class="screen">make pkg-stats</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_graphing_the_dependencies_between_packages"></a>8.9. Graphing the dependencies between packages</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="graph-depends"></a>One of Buildroot’s jobs is to know the dependencies between packages,
and make sure they are built in the right order. These dependencies
can sometimes be quite complicated, and for a given system, it is
often not easy to understand why such or such package was brought into
the build by Buildroot.</p><p>In order to help understanding the dependencies, and therefore better
understand what is the role of the different components in your
embedded Linux system, Buildroot is capable of generating dependency
graphs.</p><p>To generate a dependency graph of the full system you have compiled,
simply run:</p><pre class="screen">make graph-depends</pre><p>You will find the generated graph in
<code class="literal">output/graphs/graph-depends.pdf</code>.</p><p>If your system is quite large, the dependency graph may be too complex
and difficult to read. It is therefore possible to generate the
dependency graph just for a given package:</p><pre class="screen">make &lt;pkg&gt;-graph-depends</pre><p>You will find the generated graph in
<code class="literal">output/graph/&lt;pkg&gt;-graph-depends.pdf</code>.</p><p>Note that the dependency graphs are generated using the <code class="literal">dot</code> tool
from the <span class="emphasis"><em>Graphviz</em></span> project, which you must have installed on your
system to use this feature. In most distributions, it is available as
the <code class="literal">graphviz</code> package.</p><p>By default, the dependency graphs are generated in the PDF
format. However, by passing the <code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_OUT</code> environment variable, you
can switch to other output formats, such as PNG, PostScript or
SVG. All formats supported by the <code class="literal">-T</code> option of the <code class="literal">dot</code> tool are
supported.</p><pre class="screen">BR2_GRAPH_OUT=svg make graph-depends</pre><p>The <code class="literal">graph-depends</code> behaviour can be controlled by setting options in the
<code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_DEPS_OPTS</code> environment variable. The accepted options are:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--depth N</code>, <code class="literal">-d N</code>, to limit the dependency depth to <code class="literal">N</code> levels. The
  default, <code class="literal">0</code>, means no limit.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--stop-on PKG</code>, <code class="literal">-s PKG</code>, to stop the graph on the package <code class="literal">PKG</code>.
  <code class="literal">PKG</code> can be an actual package name, a glob, the keyword <span class="emphasis"><em>virtual</em></span>
  (to stop on virtual packages), or the keyword <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span> (to stop on
  host packages). The package is still present on the graph, but its
  dependencies are not.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--exclude PKG</code>, <code class="literal">-x PKG</code>, like <code class="literal">--stop-on</code>, but also omits <code class="literal">PKG</code> from
  the graph.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--transitive</code>, <code class="literal">--no-transitive</code>, to draw (or not) the transitive
  dependencies. The default is to not draw transitive dependencies.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--colors R,T,H</code>, the comma-separated list of colors to draw the
  root package (<code class="literal">R</code>), the target packages (<code class="literal">T</code>) and the host packages
  (<code class="literal">H</code>). Defaults to: <code class="literal">lightblue,grey,gainsboro</code>
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">BR2_GRAPH_DEPS_OPTS='-d 3 --no-transitive --colors=red,green,blue' make graph-depends</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_graphing_the_build_duration"></a>8.10. Graphing the build duration</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="graph-duration"></a>When the build of a system takes a long time, it is sometimes useful
to be able to understand which packages are the longest to build, to
see if anything can be done to speed up the build. In order to help
such build time analysis, Buildroot collects the build time of each
step of each package, and allows to generate graphs from this data.</p><p>To generate the build time graph after a build, run:</p><pre class="screen">make graph-build</pre><p>This will generate a set of files in <code class="literal">output/graphs</code> :</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build.hist-build.pdf</code>, a histogram of the build time for each
  package, ordered in the build order.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build.hist-duration.pdf</code>, a histogram of the build time for each
  package, ordered by duration (longest first)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build.hist-name.pdf</code>, a histogram of the build time for each
  package, order by package name.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build.pie-packages.pdf</code>, a pie chart of the build time per package
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build.pie-steps.pdf</code>, a pie chart of the global time spent in each
  step of the packages build process.
</li></ul></div><p>This <code class="literal">graph-build</code> target requires the Python Matplotlib and Numpy
libraries to be installed (<code class="literal">python-matplotlib</code> and <code class="literal">python-numpy</code> on
most distributions), and also the <code class="literal">argparse</code> module if you’re using a
Python version older than 2.7 (<code class="literal">python-argparse</code> on most
distributions).</p><p>By default, the output format for the graph is PDF, but a different
format can be selected using the <code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_OUT</code> environment variable. The
only other format supported is PNG:</p><pre class="screen">BR2_GRAPH_OUT=png make graph-build</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="graph-size"></a>8.11. Graphing the filesystem size contribution of packages</h2></div></div></div><p>When your target system grows, it is sometimes useful to understand
how much each Buildroot package is contributing to the overall root
filesystem size. To help with such an analysis, Buildroot collects
data about files installed by each package and using this data,
generates a graph and CSV files detailing the size contribution of
the different packages.</p><p>To generate these data after a build, run:</p><pre class="screen">make graph-size</pre><p>This will generate:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">output/graphs/graph-size.pdf</code>, a pie chart of the contribution of
  each package to the overall root filesystem size
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">output/graphs/package-size-stats.csv</code>, a CSV file giving the size
  contribution of each package to the overall root filesystem size
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">output/graphs/file-size-stats.csv</code>, a CSV file giving the size
  contribution of each installed file to the package it belongs, and
  to the overall filesystem size.
</li></ul></div><p>This <code class="literal">graph-size</code> target requires the Python Matplotlib library to be
installed (<code class="literal">python-matplotlib</code> on most distributions), and also the
<code class="literal">argparse</code> module if you’re using a Python version older than 2.7
(<code class="literal">python-argparse</code> on most distributions).</p><p>Just like for the duration graph, a <code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_OUT</code> environment variable
is supported to adjust the output file format. See <a class="xref" href="#graph-depends">Section 8.9, “Graphing the dependencies between packages”</a>
for details about this environment variable.</p><p>Additionally, one may set the environment variable <code class="literal">BR2_GRAPH_SIZE_OPTS</code>
to further control the generated graph. Accepted options are:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--size-limit X</code>, <code class="literal">-l X</code>, will group all packages which individual
  contribution is below <code class="literal">X</code> percent, to a single entry labelled <span class="emphasis"><em>Others</em></span>
  in the graph. By default, <code class="literal">X=0.01</code>, which means packages each
  contributing less than 1% are grouped under <span class="emphasis"><em>Others</em></span>. Accepted values
  are in the range <code class="literal">[0.0..1.0]</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--iec</code>, <code class="literal">--binary</code>, <code class="literal">--si</code>, <code class="literal">--decimal</code>, to use IEC (binary, powers
  of 1024) or SI (decimal, powers of 1000; the default) prefixes.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">--biggest-first</code>, to sort packages in decreasing size order, rather
  than in increasing size order.
</li></ul></div><p><strong>Note. </strong>The collected filesystem size data is only meaningful after a complete
clean rebuild. Be sure to run <code class="literal">make clean all</code> before using <code class="literal">make
graph-size</code>.</p><p>To compare the root filesystem size of two different Buildroot compilations,
for example after adjusting the configuration or when switching to another
Buildroot release, use the <code class="literal">size-stats-compare</code> script. It takes two
<code class="literal">file-size-stats.csv</code> files (produced by <code class="literal">make graph-size</code>) as input.
Refer to the help text of this script for more details:</p><pre class="screen">utils/size-stats-compare -h</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="top-level-parallel-build"></a>8.12. Top-level parallel build</h2></div></div></div><p><strong>Note. </strong>This section deals with a very experimental feature, which is known to
break even in some non-unusual situations. Use at your own risk.</p><p>Buildroot has always been capable of using parallel build on a per
package basis: each package is built by Buildroot using <code class="literal">make -jN</code> (or
the equivalent invocation for non-make-based build systems). The level
of parallelism is by default number of CPUs + 1, but it can be
adjusted using the <code class="literal">BR2_JLEVEL</code> configuration option.</p><p>Until 2020.02, Buildroot was however building packages in a serial
fashion: each package was built one after the other, without
parallelization of the build between packages. As of 2020.02,
Buildroot has experimental support for <span class="strong"><strong>top-level parallel build</strong></span>,
which allows some signicant build time savings by building packages
that have no dependency relationship in parallel. This feature is
however marked as experimental and is known not to work in some cases.</p><p>In order to use top-level parallel build, one must:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
Enable the option <code class="literal">BR2_PER_PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES</code> in the Buildroot
configuration
</li><li class="listitem">
Use <code class="literal">make -jN</code> when starting the Buildroot build
</li></ol></div><p>Internally, the <code class="literal">BR2_PER_PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES</code> will enable a mechanism
called <span class="strong"><strong>per-package directories</strong></span>, which will have the following
effects:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Instead of a global <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> directory and a global <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span> directory
  common to all packages, per-package <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span> directories
  will be used, in <code class="literal">$(O)/per-package/&lt;pkg&gt;/target/</code> and
  <code class="literal">$(O)/per-package/&lt;pkg&gt;/host/</code> respectively. Those folders will be
  populated from the corresponding folders of the package dependencies
  at the beginning of <code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;</code> build. The compiler and all other tools
  will therefore only be able to see and access files installed by
  dependencies explicitly listed by <code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
At the end of the build, the global <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span> directories
  will be populated, located in <code class="literal">$(O)/target</code> and <code class="literal">$(O)/host</code>
  respectively. This means that during the build, those folders will
  be empty and it’s only at the very end of the build that they will
  be populated.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_advanced_usage"></a>8.13. Advanced usage</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_using_the_generated_toolchain_outside_buildroot"></a>8.13.1. Using the generated toolchain outside Buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p>You may want to compile, for your target, your own programs or other
software that are not packaged in Buildroot. In order to do this you
can use the toolchain that was generated by Buildroot.</p><p>The toolchain generated by Buildroot is located by default in
<code class="literal">output/host/</code>. The simplest way to use it is to add
<code class="literal">output/host/bin/</code> to your PATH environment variable and then to
use <code class="literal">ARCH-linux-gcc</code>, <code class="literal">ARCH-linux-objdump</code>, <code class="literal">ARCH-linux-ld</code>, etc.</p><p>Alternatively, Buildroot can also export the toolchain and the development
files of all selected packages, as an SDK, by running the command
<code class="literal">make sdk</code>. This generates a tarball of the content of the host directory
<code class="literal">output/host/</code>, named <code class="literal">&lt;TARGET-TUPLE&gt;_sdk-buildroot.tar.gz</code> (which can be
overridden by setting the environment variable <code class="literal">BR2_SDK_PREFIX</code>) and
located in the output directory <code class="literal">output/images/</code>.</p><p>This tarball can then be distributed to application developers, when
they want to develop their applications that are not (yet) packaged as
a Buildroot package.</p><p>Upon extracting the SDK tarball, the user must run the script
<code class="literal">relocate-sdk.sh</code> (located at the top directory of the SDK), to make
sure all paths are updated with the new location.</p><p>Alternatively, if you just want to prepare the SDK without generating
the tarball (e.g. because you will just be moving the <code class="literal">host</code> directory,
or will be generating the tarball on your own), Buildroot also allows
you to just prepare the SDK with <code class="literal">make prepare-sdk</code> without actually
generating a tarball.</p><p>For your convenience, by selecting the option
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_ENVIRONMENT_SETUP</code>, you can get a
<code class="literal">environment-setup</code> script installed in <code class="literal">output/host/</code> and therefore
in your SDK.  This script can be sourced with
<code class="literal">. your/sdk/path/environment-setup</code> to export a number of environment
variables that will help cross-compile your projects using the
Buildroot SDK: the <code class="literal">PATH</code> will contain the SDK binaries, standard
<span class="emphasis"><em>autotools</em></span> variables will be defined with the appropriate values, and
<code class="literal">CONFIGURE_FLAGS</code> will contain basic <code class="literal">./configure</code> options to
cross-compile <span class="emphasis"><em>autotools</em></span> projects. It also provides some useful
commands. Note however that once this script is sourced, the
environment is setup only for cross-compilation, and no longer for
native compilation.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_using_literal_gdb_literal_in_buildroot"></a>8.13.2. Using <code class="literal">gdb</code> in Buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p>Buildroot allows to do cross-debugging, where the debugger runs on the
build machine and communicates with <code class="literal">gdbserver</code> on the target to
control the execution of the program.</p><p>To achieve this:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If you are using an <span class="emphasis"><em>internal toolchain</em></span> (built by Buildroot), you
  must enable <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_GDB</code>, <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_GDB</code> and
  <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_GDB_SERVER</code>. This ensures that both the cross gdb and
  gdbserver get built, and that gdbserver gets installed to your target.
</li><li class="listitem">
If you are using an <span class="emphasis"><em>external toolchain</em></span>, you should enable
  <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_GDB_SERVER_COPY</code>, which will copy the
  gdbserver included with the external toolchain to the target. If your
  external toolchain does not have a cross gdb or gdbserver, it is also
  possible to let Buildroot build them, by enabling the same options as
  for the <span class="emphasis"><em>internal toolchain backend</em></span>.
</li></ul></div><p>Now, to start debugging a program called <code class="literal">foo</code>, you should run on the
target:</p><pre class="screen">gdbserver :2345 foo</pre><p>This will cause <code class="literal">gdbserver</code> to listen on TCP port 2345 for a connection
from the cross gdb.</p><p>Then, on the host, you should start the cross gdb using the following
command line:</p><pre class="screen">&lt;buildroot&gt;/output/host/bin/&lt;tuple&gt;-gdb -ix &lt;buildroot&gt;/output/staging/usr/share/buildroot/gdbinit foo</pre><p>Of course, <code class="literal">foo</code> must be available in the current directory, built
with debugging symbols. Typically you start this command from the
directory where <code class="literal">foo</code> is built (and not from <code class="literal">output/target/</code> as the
binaries in that directory are stripped).</p><p>The <code class="literal">&lt;buildroot&gt;/output/staging/usr/share/buildroot/gdbinit</code> file will tell the
cross gdb where to find the libraries of the target.</p><p>Finally, to connect to the target from the cross gdb:</p><pre class="screen">(gdb) target remote &lt;target ip address&gt;:2345</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="ccache"></a>8.13.3. Using <code class="literal">ccache</code> in Buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p><a class="ulink" href="http://ccache.samba.org" target="_top">ccache</a> is a compiler cache. It stores the
object files resulting from each compilation process, and is able to
skip future compilation of the same source file (with same compiler
and same arguments) by using the pre-existing object files. When doing
almost identical builds from scratch a number of times, it can nicely
speed up the build process.</p><p><code class="literal">ccache</code> support is integrated in Buildroot. You just have to enable
<code class="literal">Enable compiler cache</code> in <code class="literal">Build options</code>. This will automatically
build <code class="literal">ccache</code> and use it for every host and target compilation.</p><p>The cache is located in the directory defined by the <code class="literal">BR2_CCACHE_DIR</code>
configuration option, which defaults to
<code class="literal">$HOME/.buildroot-ccache</code>. This default location is outside of
Buildroot output directory so that it can be shared by separate
Buildroot builds. If you want to get rid of the cache, simply remove
this directory.</p><p>You can get statistics on the cache (its size, number of hits,
misses, etc.) by running <code class="literal">make ccache-stats</code>.</p><p>The make target <code class="literal">ccache-options</code> and the <code class="literal">CCACHE_OPTIONS</code> variable
provide more generic access to the ccache. For example</p><pre class="screen"># set cache limit size
make CCACHE_OPTIONS="--max-size=5G" ccache-options

# zero statistics counters
make CCACHE_OPTIONS="--zero-stats" ccache-options</pre><p><code class="literal">ccache</code> makes a hash of the source files and of the compiler options.
If a compiler option is different, the cached object file will not be
used. Many compiler options, however, contain an absolute path to the
staging directory. Because of this, building in a different output
directory would lead to many cache misses.</p><p>To avoid this issue, buildroot has the <code class="literal">Use relative paths</code> option
(<code class="literal">BR2_CCACHE_USE_BASEDIR</code>). This will rewrite all absolute paths that
point inside the output directory into relative paths. Thus, changing
the output directory no longer leads to cache misses.</p><p>A disadvantage of the relative paths is that they also end up to be
relative paths in the object file. Therefore, for example, the debugger
will no longer find the file, unless you cd to the output directory
first.</p><p>See <a class="ulink" href="https://ccache.samba.org/manual.html#_compiling_in_different_directories" target="_top">the
ccache manual’s section on "Compiling in different directories"</a> for
more details about this rewriting of absolute paths.</p><p>When <code class="literal">ccache</code> is enabled in Buildroot using the <code class="literal">BR2_CCACHE=y</code> option:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">ccache</code> is used during the Buildroot build itself
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">ccache</code> is not used when building outside of Buildroot, for example
  when directly calling the cross-compiler or using the SDK
</li></ul></div><p>One can override this behavior using the <code class="literal">BR2_USE_CCACHE</code> environment
variable: when set to <code class="literal">1</code>, usage of ccache is enabled (default during
the Buildroot build), when unset or set to a value different from <code class="literal">1</code>,
usage of ccache is disabled.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="download-location"></a>8.13.4. Location of downloaded packages</h3></div></div></div><p>The various tarballs that are downloaded by Buildroot are all stored
in <code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code>, which by default is the <code class="literal">dl</code> directory. If you want
to keep a complete version of Buildroot which is known to be working
with the associated tarballs, you can make a copy of this directory.
This will allow you to regenerate the toolchain and the target
filesystem with exactly the same versions.</p><p>If you maintain several Buildroot trees, it might be better to have a
shared download location. This can be achieved by pointing the
<code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code> environment variable to a directory. If this is
set, then the value of <code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code> in the Buildroot configuration is
overridden. The following line should be added to <code class="literal">&lt;~/.bashrc&gt;</code>.</p><pre class="screen"> export BR2_DL_DIR=&lt;shared download location&gt;</pre><p>The download location can also be set in the <code class="literal">.config</code> file, with the
<code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code> option. Unlike most options in the .config file, this value
is overridden by the <code class="literal">BR2_DL_DIR</code> environment variable.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="pkg-build-steps"></a>8.13.5. Package-specific <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> targets</h3></div></div></div><p>Running <code class="literal">make &lt;package&gt;</code> builds and installs that particular package
and its dependencies.</p><p>For packages relying on the Buildroot infrastructure, there are
numerous special make targets that can be called independently like
this:</p><pre class="screen">make &lt;package&gt;-&lt;target&gt;</pre><p>The package build targets are (in the order they are executed):</p><div class="informaltable"><table class="informaltable" cellpadding="4px" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-top: 3px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 3px solid #527bbd; border-left: 3px solid #527bbd; border-right: 3px solid #527bbd; " width="90%"><colgroup><col class="col_1" /><col class="col_2" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"> command/target    </th><th style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"> Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">source</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Fetch the source (download the tarball, clone
the source repository, etc)</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">depends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Build and install all dependencies required to
build the package</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">extract</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Put the source in the package build directory
(extract the tarball, copy the source, etc)</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">patch</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Apply the patches, if any</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">configure</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Run the configure commands, if any</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">build</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Run the compilation commands</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">install-staging</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p><span class="strong"><strong>target package:</strong></span> Run the installation of the package in the
staging directory, if necessary</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">install-target</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p><span class="strong"><strong>target package:</strong></span> Run the installation of the package in the
target directory, if necessary</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">install</code></p></td><td style="" align="left" valign="top"><p><span class="strong"><strong>target package:</strong></span> Run the 2 previous installation commands</p>
<p><span class="strong"><strong>host package:</strong></span> Run the installation of the package in the host
directory</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>Additionally, there are some other useful make targets:</p><div class="informaltable"><table class="informaltable" cellpadding="4px" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-top: 3px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 3px solid #527bbd; border-left: 3px solid #527bbd; border-right: 3px solid #527bbd; " width="90%"><colgroup><col class="col_1" /><col class="col_2" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"> command/target    </th><th style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"> Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">show-depends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Displays the first-order dependencies required to build the
package</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">show-recursive-depends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Recursively displays the dependencies
  required to build the package</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">show-rdepends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Displays the first-order reverse dependencies of
  the package (i.e packages that directly depend on it)</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">show-recursive-rdepends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Recursively displays the reverse
  dependencies of the package (i.e the packages that depend on it,
  directly or indirectly)</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">graph-depends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Generate a dependency graph of the package, in the
context of the current Buildroot configuration. See
<a class="link" href="#graph-depends">this section</a> for more details about dependency
graphs.</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">graph-rdepends</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Generate a graph of this package reverse
  dependencies (i.e the packages that depend on it, directly or
  indirectly)</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">dirclean</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Remove the whole package build directory</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">reinstall</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Re-run the install commands</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">rebuild</code></p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>Re-run the compilation commands - this only makes
sense when using the <code class="literal">OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> feature or when you modified a file
directly in the build directory</p></td></tr><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="center" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">reconfigure</code></p></td><td style="" align="left" valign="top"><p>Re-run the configure commands, then rebuild - this only
makes sense when using the <code class="literal">OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> feature or when you modified a
file directly in the build directory</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_using_buildroot_during_development"></a>8.13.6. Using Buildroot during development</h3></div></div></div><p>The normal operation of Buildroot is to download a tarball, extract
it, configure, compile and install the software component found inside
this tarball. The source code is extracted in
<code class="literal">output/build/&lt;package&gt;-&lt;version&gt;</code>, which is a temporary directory:
whenever <code class="literal">make clean</code> is used, this directory is entirely removed, and
re-created at the next <code class="literal">make</code> invocation. Even when a Git or
Subversion repository is used as the input for the package source
code, Buildroot creates a tarball out of it, and then behaves as it
normally does with tarballs.</p><p>This behavior is well-suited when Buildroot is used mainly as an
integration tool, to build and integrate all the components of an
embedded Linux system. However, if one uses Buildroot during the
development of certain components of the system, this behavior is not
very convenient: one would instead like to make a small change to the
source code of one package, and be able to quickly rebuild the system
with Buildroot.</p><p>Making changes directly in <code class="literal">output/build/&lt;package&gt;-&lt;version&gt;</code> is not
an appropriate solution, because this directory is removed on <code class="literal">make
clean</code>.</p><p>Therefore, Buildroot provides a specific mechanism for this use case:
the <code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> mechanism. Buildroot reads an <span class="emphasis"><em>override</em></span>
file, which allows the user to tell Buildroot the location of the
source for certain packages.</p><p>The default location of the override file is <code class="literal">$(CONFIG_DIR)/local.mk</code>,
as defined by the <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_OVERRIDE_FILE</code> configuration option.
<code class="literal">$(CONFIG_DIR)</code> is the location of the Buildroot <code class="literal">.config</code> file, so
<code class="literal">local.mk</code> by default lives side-by-side with the <code class="literal">.config</code> file,
which means:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
In the top-level Buildroot source directory for in-tree builds
  (i.e., when <code class="literal">O=</code> is not used)
</li><li class="listitem">
In the out-of-tree directory for out-of-tree builds (i.e., when
  <code class="literal">O=</code> is used)
</li></ul></div><p>If a different location than these defaults is required, it can be
specified through the <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_OVERRIDE_FILE</code> configuration
option.</p><p>In this <span class="emphasis"><em>override</em></span> file, Buildroot expects to find lines of the form:</p><pre class="screen">&lt;pkg1&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /path/to/pkg1/sources
&lt;pkg2&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /path/to/pkg2/sources</pre><p>For example:</p><pre class="screen">LINUX_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /home/bob/linux/
BUSYBOX_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /home/bob/busybox/</pre><p>When Buildroot finds that for a given package, an
<code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> has been defined, it will no longer attempt to
download, extract and patch the package. Instead, it will directly use
the source code available in the specified directory and <code class="literal">make clean</code>
will not touch this directory. This allows to point Buildroot to your
own directories, that can be managed by Git, Subversion, or any other
version control system. To achieve this, Buildroot will use <span class="emphasis"><em>rsync</em></span> to
copy the source code of the component from the specified
<code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> to <code class="literal">output/build/&lt;package&gt;-custom/</code>.</p><p>This mechanism is best used in conjunction with the <code class="literal">make
&lt;pkg&gt;-rebuild</code> and <code class="literal">make &lt;pkg&gt;-reconfigure</code> targets. A <code class="literal">make
&lt;pkg&gt;-rebuild all</code> sequence will <span class="emphasis"><em>rsync</em></span> the source code from
<code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code> to <code class="literal">output/build/&lt;package&gt;-custom</code> (thanks to
<span class="emphasis"><em>rsync</em></span>, only the modified files are copied), and restart the build
process of just this package.</p><p>In the example of the <code class="literal">linux</code> package above, the developer can then
make a source code change in <code class="literal">/home/bob/linux</code> and then run:</p><pre class="screen">make linux-rebuild all</pre><p>and in a matter of seconds gets the updated Linux kernel image in
<code class="literal">output/images</code>. Similarly, a change can be made to the BusyBox source
code in <code class="literal">/home/bob/busybox</code>, and after:</p><pre class="screen">make busybox-rebuild all</pre><p>the root filesystem image in <code class="literal">output/images</code> contains the updated
BusyBox.</p><p>Source trees for big projects often contain hundreds or thousands of
files which are not needed for building, but will slow down the process
of copying the sources with <span class="emphasis"><em>rsync</em></span>. Optionally, it is possible define
<code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR_RSYNC_EXCLUSIONS</code> to skip syncing certain files
from the source tree. For example, when working on the <code class="literal">webkitgtk</code>
package, the following will exclude the tests and in-tree builds from
a local WebKit source tree:</p><pre class="screen">WEBKITGTK_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /home/bob/WebKit
WEBKITGTK_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR_RSYNC_EXCLUSIONS = \
        --exclude JSTests --exclude ManualTests --exclude PerformanceTests \
        --exclude WebDriverTests --exclude WebKitBuild --exclude WebKitLibraries \
        --exclude WebKit.xcworkspace --exclude Websites --exclude Examples</pre><p>By default, Buildroot skips syncing of VCS artifacts (e.g., the <span class="strong"><strong>.git</strong></span> and
<span class="strong"><strong>.svn</strong></span> directories). Some packages prefer to have these VCS directories
available during build, for example for automatically determining a precise
commit reference for version information. To undo this built-in filtering at a
cost of a slower speed, add these directories back:</p><pre class="screen">LINUX_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR_RSYNC_EXCLUSIONS = --include .git</pre></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="customize"></a>Chapter 9. Project-specific customization</h2></div></div></div><p>Typical actions you may need to perform for a given project are:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
configuring Buildroot (including build options and toolchain,
  bootloader, kernel, package and filesystem image type selection)
</li><li class="listitem">
configuring other components, like the Linux kernel and BusyBox
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
customizing the generated target filesystem
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
adding or overwriting files on the target filesystem (using
     <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
modifying or deleting files on the target filesystem (using
     <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
running arbitrary commands prior to generating the filesystem image
     (using <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
setting file permissions and ownership (using
     <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
adding custom devices nodes (using
     <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_STATIC_DEVICE_TABLE</code>)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
adding custom user accounts (using <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_USERS_TABLES</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
running arbitrary commands after generating the filesystem image
  (using <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_IMAGE_SCRIPT</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
adding project-specific patches to some packages (using
  <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
adding project-specific packages
</li></ul></div><p>An important note regarding such <span class="emphasis"><em>project-specific</em></span> customizations:
please carefully consider which changes are indeed project-specific and
which changes are also useful to developers outside your project. The
Buildroot community highly recommends and encourages the upstreaming of
improvements, packages and board support to the official Buildroot
project. Of course, it is sometimes not possible or desirable to
upstream because the changes are highly specific or proprietary.</p><p>This chapter describes how to make such project-specific customizations
in Buildroot and how to store them in a way that you can build the same
image in a reproducible way, even after running <span class="emphasis"><em>make clean</em></span>. By
following the recommended strategy, you can even use the same Buildroot
tree to build multiple distinct projects!</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="customize-dir-structure"></a>9.1. Recommended directory structure</h2></div></div></div><p>When customizing Buildroot for your project, you will be creating one or
more project-specific files that need to be stored somewhere. While most
of these files could be placed in <span class="emphasis"><em>any</em></span> location as their path is to be
specified in the Buildroot configuration, the Buildroot developers
recommend a specific directory structure which is described in this
section.</p><p>Orthogonal to this directory structure, you can choose <span class="emphasis"><em>where</em></span> you place
this structure itself: either inside the Buildroot tree, or outside of
it using a br2-external tree. Both options are valid, the choice is up
to you.</p><pre class="screen">+-- board/
|   +-- &lt;company&gt;/
|       +-- &lt;boardname&gt;/
|           +-- linux.config
|           +-- busybox.config
|           +-- &lt;other configuration files&gt;
|           +-- post_build.sh
|           +-- post_image.sh
|           +-- rootfs_overlay/
|           |   +-- etc/
|           |   +-- &lt;some files&gt;
|           +-- patches/
|               +-- foo/
|               |   +-- &lt;some patches&gt;
|               +-- libbar/
|                   +-- &lt;some other patches&gt;
|
+-- configs/
|   +-- &lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig
|
+-- package/
|   +-- &lt;company&gt;/
|       +-- Config.in (if not using a br2-external tree)
|       +-- &lt;company&gt;.mk (if not using a br2-external tree)
|       +-- package1/
|       |    +-- Config.in
|       |    +-- package1.mk
|       +-- package2/
|           +-- Config.in
|           +-- package2.mk
|
+-- Config.in (if using a br2-external tree)
+-- external.mk (if using a br2-external tree)
+-- external.desc (if using a br2-external tree)</pre><p>Details on the files shown above are given further in this chapter.</p><p>Note: if you choose to place this structure outside of the Buildroot
tree but in a br2-external tree, the &lt;company&gt; and possibly &lt;boardname&gt;
components may be superfluous and can be left out.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_implementing_layered_customizations"></a>9.1.1. Implementing layered customizations</h3></div></div></div><p>It is quite common for a user to have several related projects that partly
need the same customizations. Instead of duplicating these
customizations for each project, it is recommended to use a layered
customization approach, as explained in this section.</p><p>Almost all of the customization methods available in Buildroot, like
post-build scripts and root filesystem overlays, accept a
space-separated list of items. The specified items are always treated in
order, from left to right. By creating more than one such item, one for
the common customizations and another one for the really
project-specific customizations, you can avoid unnecessary duplication.
Each layer is typically embodied by a separate directory inside
<code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/</code>. Depending on your projects, you could even introduce
more than two layers.</p><p>An example directory structure for where a user has two customization
layers <span class="emphasis"><em>common</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>fooboard</em></span> is:</p><pre class="screen">+-- board/
    +-- &lt;company&gt;/
        +-- common/
        |   +-- post_build.sh
        |   +-- rootfs_overlay/
        |   |   +-- ...
        |   +-- patches/
        |       +-- ...
        |
        +-- fooboard/
            +-- linux.config
            +-- busybox.config
            +-- &lt;other configuration files&gt;
            +-- post_build.sh
            +-- rootfs_overlay/
            |   +-- ...
            +-- patches/
                +-- ...</pre><p>For example, if the user has the <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> configuration
option set as:</p><pre class="screen">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR="board/&lt;company&gt;/common/patches board/&lt;company&gt;/fooboard/patches"</pre><p>then first the patches from the <span class="emphasis"><em>common</em></span> layer would be applied,
followed by the patches from the <span class="emphasis"><em>fooboard</em></span> layer.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="outside-br-custom"></a>9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>As already briefly mentioned in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, you can
place project-specific customizations in two locations:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
directly within the Buildroot tree, typically maintaining them using
   branches in a version control system so that upgrading to a newer
   Buildroot release is easy.
</li><li class="listitem">
outside of the Buildroot tree, using the <span class="emphasis"><em>br2-external</em></span> mechanism.
   This mechanism allows to keep package recipes, board support and
   configuration files outside of the Buildroot tree, while still
   having them nicely integrated in the build logic. We call this
   location a <span class="emphasis"><em>br2-external tree</em></span>. This section explains how to use
   the br2-external mechanism and what to provide in a br2-external
   tree.
</li></ul></div><p>One can tell Buildroot to use one or more br2-external trees by setting
the <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL</code> make variable set to the path(s) of the br2-external
tree(s) to use. It can be passed to any Buildroot <code class="literal">make</code> invocation. It
is automatically saved in the hidden <code class="literal">.br2-external.mk</code> file in the output
directory. Thanks to this, there is no need to pass <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL</code> at
every <code class="literal">make</code> invocation. It can however be changed at any time by
passing a new value, and can be removed by passing an empty value.</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>The path to a br2-external tree can be either absolute or relative.
If it is passed as a relative path, it is important to note that it is
interpreted relative to the main Buildroot source directory, <span class="strong"><strong>not</strong></span> to
the Buildroot output directory.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>If using an br2-external tree from before Buildroot 2016.11, you need to
convert it before you can use it with Buildroot 2016.11 onward. See
<a class="xref" href="#br2-external-converting" title="27.2. Migrating to 2016.11">Section 27.2, “Migrating to 2016.11”</a> for help on doing so.</p><p>Some examples:</p><pre class="screen">buildroot/ $ make BR2_EXTERNAL=/path/to/foo menuconfig</pre><p>From now on, definitions from the <code class="literal">/path/to/foo</code> br2-external tree
will be used:</p><pre class="screen">buildroot/ $ make
buildroot/ $ make legal-info</pre><p>We can switch to another br2-external tree at any time:</p><pre class="screen">buildroot/ $ make BR2_EXTERNAL=/where/we/have/bar xconfig</pre><p>We can also use multiple br2-external trees:</p><pre class="screen">buildroot/ $ make BR2_EXTERNAL=/path/to/foo:/where/we/have/bar menuconfig</pre><p>Or disable the usage of any br2-external tree:</p><pre class="screen">buildroot/ $ make BR2_EXTERNAL= xconfig</pre><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_layout_of_a_br2_external_tree"></a>9.2.1. Layout of a br2-external tree</h3></div></div></div><p>A br2-external tree must contain at least those three files, described
in the following chapters:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">external.desc</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">external.mk</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">Config.in</code>
</li></ul></div><p>Apart from those mandatory files, there may be additional and optional
content that may be present in a br2-external tree, like the <code class="literal">configs/</code>
or <code class="literal">provides/</code> directories. They are described in the following chapters
as well.</p><p>A complete example br2-external tree layout is also described later.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_the_literal_external_desc_literal_file"></a>The <code class="literal">external.desc</code> file</h4></div></div></div><p>That file describes the br2-external tree: the <span class="emphasis"><em>name</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>description</em></span>
for that br2-external tree.</p><p>The format for this file is line based, with each line starting by a
keyword, followed by a colon and one or more spaces, followed by the
value assigned to that keyword. There are two keywords currently
recognised:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">name</code>, mandatory, defines the name for that br2-external tree. That
   name must only use ASCII characters in the set <code class="literal">[A-Za-z0-9_]</code>; any
   other character is forbidden. Buildroot sets the variable
   <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_PATH</code> to the absolute path of the br2-external
   tree, so that you can use it to refer to your br2-external tree. This
   variable is available both in Kconfig, so you can use it to source your
   Kconfig files (see below) and in the Makefile, so that you can use it
   to include other Makefiles (see below) or refer to other files (like
   data files) from your br2-external tree.
</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>Since it is possible to use multiple br2-external trees at once, this
  name is used by Buildroot to generate variables for each of those trees.
  That name is used to identify your br2-external tree, so try to come up
  with a name that really describes your br2-external tree, in order for
  it to be relatively unique, so that it does not clash with another name
  from another br2-external tree, especially if you are planning on
  somehow sharing your br2-external tree with third parties or using
  br2-external trees from third parties.</p></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">desc</code>, optional, provides a short description for that br2-external
   tree. It shall fit on a single line, is mostly free-form (see below),
   and is used when displaying information about a br2-external tree (e.g.
   above the list of defconfig files, or as the prompt in the menuconfig);
   as such, it should relatively brief (40 chars is probably a good upper
   limit). The description is available in the <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_DESC</code>
   variable.
</li></ul></div><p>Examples of names and the corresponding <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_PATH</code>
variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO</code> → <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_FOO_PATH</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BAR_42</code> → <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH</code>
</li></ul></div><p>In the following examples, it is assumed the name to be set to <code class="literal">BAR_42</code>.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>Both <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_PATH</code> and <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_DESC</code> are
  available in the Kconfig files and the Makefiles. They are also
  exported in the environment so are available in post-build, post-image
  and in-fakeroot scripts.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_the_literal_config_in_literal_and_literal_external_mk_literal_files"></a>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> and <code class="literal">external.mk</code> files</h4></div></div></div><p>Those files (which may each be empty) can be used to define package
recipes (i.e. <code class="literal">foo/Config.in</code> and <code class="literal">foo/foo.mk</code> like for packages bundled
in Buildroot itself) or other custom configuration options or make logic.</p><p>Buildroot automatically includes the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> from each br2-external
tree to make it appear in the top-level configuration menu, and includes
the <code class="literal">external.mk</code> from each br2-external tree with the rest of the
makefile logic.</p><p>The main usage of this is to store package recipes. The recommended way
to do this is to write a <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file that looks like:</p><pre class="screen">source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/package/package1/Config.in"
source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/package/package2/Config.in"</pre><p>Then, have an <code class="literal">external.mk</code> file that looks like:</p><pre class="screen">include $(sort $(wildcard $(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/package/*/*.mk))</pre><p>And then in <code class="literal">$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/package/package1</code> and
<code class="literal">$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/package/package2</code> create normal
Buildroot package recipes, as explained in <a class="xref" href="#adding-packages" title="Chapter 18. Adding new packages to Buildroot">Chapter 18, <em>Adding new packages to Buildroot</em></a>.
If you prefer, you can also group the packages in subdirectories
called &lt;boardname&gt; and adapt the above paths accordingly.</p><p>You can also define custom configuration options in <code class="literal">Config.in</code> and
custom make logic in <code class="literal">external.mk</code>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_the_literal_configs_literal_directory"></a>The <code class="literal">configs/</code> directory</h4></div></div></div><p>One can store Buildroot defconfigs in the <code class="literal">configs</code> subdirectory of
the br2-external tree. Buildroot will automatically show them in the
output of <code class="literal">make list-defconfigs</code> and allow them to be loaded with the
normal <code class="literal">make &lt;name&gt;_defconfig</code> command. They will be visible in the
<span class="emphasis"><em>make list-defconfigs</em></span> output, below an <code class="literal">External configs</code> label that
contains the name of the br2-external tree they are defined in.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>If a defconfig file is present in more than one br2-external tree, then
the one from the last br2-external tree is used. It is thus possible
to override a defconfig bundled in Buildroot or another br2-external
tree.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_the_literal_provides_literal_directory"></a>The <code class="literal">provides/</code> directory</h4></div></div></div><p>For some packages, Buildroot provides a choice between two (or more)
implementations of API-compatible such packages. For example, there is
a choice to choose either libjpeg or jpeg-turbo; there is one between
openssl or libressl; there is one to select one of the known,
pre-configured toolchains…</p><p>It is possible for a br2-external to extend those choices, by providing
a set of files that define those alternatives:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">provides/toolchains.in</code> defines the pre-configured toolchains, which
  will then be listed in the toolchain selection;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">provides/jpeg.in</code> defines the alternative libjpeg implementations;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">provides/openssl.in</code> defines the alternative openssl implementations;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">provides/skeleton.in</code> defines the alternative skeleton implementations;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">provides/init.in</code> defines the alternative init system implementations, this
  can be used to select a default skeleton for your init.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_free_form_content"></a>Free-form content</h4></div></div></div><p>One can store all the board-specific configuration files there, such
as the kernel configuration, the root filesystem overlay, or any other
configuration file for which Buildroot allows to set the location (by
using the <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL_$(NAME)_PATH</code> variable). For example, you
could set the paths to a global patch directory, to a rootfs overlay
and to the kernel configuration file as follows (e.g. by running
<code class="literal">make menuconfig</code> and filling in these options):</p><pre class="screen">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR=$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/patches/
BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY=$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/&lt;boardname&gt;/overlay/
BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE=$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/&lt;boardname&gt;/kernel.config</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_additional_linux_kernel_extensions"></a>Additional Linux kernel extensions</h4></div></div></div><p>Additional Linux kernel extensions (see <a class="xref" href="#linux-kernel-ext" title="18.22.2. linux-kernel-extensions">Section 18.22.2, “linux-kernel-extensions”</a>) can
be added by storing them in the <code class="literal">linux/</code> directory at the root of a
br2-external tree.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"><a id="_example_layout"></a>Example layout</h4></div></div></div><p>Here is an example layout using all features of br2-external (the sample
content is shown for the file above it, when it is relevant to explain
the br2-external tree; this is all entirely made up just for the sake of
illustration, of course):</p><pre class="screen">/path/to/br2-ext-tree/
  |- external.desc
  |     |name: BAR_42
  |     |desc: Example br2-external tree
  |     `----
  |
  |- Config.in
  |     |source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/toolchain/toolchain-external-mine/Config.in.options"
  |     |source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/package/pkg-1/Config.in"
  |     |source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/package/pkg-2/Config.in"
  |     |source "$BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH/package/my-jpeg/Config.in"
  |     |
  |     |config BAR_42_FLASH_ADDR
  |     |    hex "my-board flash address"
  |     |    default 0x10AD
  |     `----
  |
  |- external.mk
  |     |include $(sort $(wildcard $(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/package/*/*.mk))
  |     |include $(sort $(wildcard $(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/toolchain/*/*.mk))
  |     |
  |     |flash-my-board:
  |     |    $(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/my-board/flash-image \
  |     |        --image $(BINARIES_DIR)/image.bin \
  |     |        --address $(BAR_42_FLASH_ADDR)
  |     `----
  |
  |- package/pkg-1/Config.in
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_PKG_1
  |     |    bool "pkg-1"
  |     |    help
  |     |      Some help about pkg-1
  |     `----
  |- package/pkg-1/pkg-1.hash
  |- package/pkg-1/pkg-1.mk
  |     |PKG_1_VERSION = 1.2.3
  |     |PKG_1_SITE = /some/where/to/get/pkg-1
  |     |PKG_1_LICENSE = blabla
  |     |
  |     |define PKG_1_INSTALL_INIT_SYSV
  |     |    $(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(PKG_1_PKGDIR)/S99my-daemon \
  |     |                          $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/init.d/S99my-daemon
  |     |endef
  |     |
  |     |$(eval $(autotools-package))
  |     `----
  |- package/pkg-1/S99my-daemon
  |
  |- package/pkg-2/Config.in
  |- package/pkg-2/pkg-2.hash
  |- package/pkg-2/pkg-2.mk
  |
  |- provides/jpeg.in
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_MY_JPEG
  |     |    bool "my-jpeg"
  |     `----
  |- package/my-jpeg/Config.in
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_JPEG
  |     |    default "my-jpeg" if BR2_PACKAGE_MY_JPEG
  |     `----
  |- package/my-jpeg/my-jpeg.mk
  |     |# This is a normal package .mk file
  |     |MY_JPEG_VERSION = 1.2.3
  |     |MY_JPEG_SITE = https://example.net/some/place
  |     |MY_JPEG_PROVIDES = jpeg
  |     |$(eval $(autotools-package))
  |     `----
  |
  |- provides/init.in
  |     |config BR2_INIT_MINE
  |     |    bool "my custom init"
  |     |    select BR2_PACKAGE_MY_INIT
  |     |    select BR2_PACKAGE_SKELETON_INIT_MINE if BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_DEFAULT
  |     `----
  |
  |- provides/skeleton.in
  |     |config BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_MINE
  |     |    bool "my custom skeleton"
  |     |    select BR2_PACKAGE_SKELETON_MINE
  |     `----
  |- package/skeleton-mine/Config.in
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_SKELETON_MINE
  |     |    bool
  |     |    select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SKELETON
  |     |
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_SKELETON
  |     |    default "skeleton-mine" if BR2_PACKAGE_SKELETON_MINE
  |     `----
  |- package/skeleton-mine/skeleton-mine.mk
  |     |SKELETON_MINE_ADD_TOOLCHAIN_DEPENDENCY = NO
  |     |SKELETON_MINE_ADD_SKELETON_DEPENDENCY = NO
  |     |SKELETON_MINE_PROVIDES = skeleton
  |     |SKELETON_MINE_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
  |     |$(eval $(generic-package))
  |     `----
  |
  |- provides/toolchains.in
  |     |config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_MINE
  |     |    bool "my custom toolchain"
  |     |    depends on BR2_some_arch
  |     |    select BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
  |     `----
  |- toolchain/toolchain-external-mine/Config.in.options
  |     |if BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_MINE
  |     |config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_PREFIX
  |     |    default "arch-mine-linux-gnu"
  |     |config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL
  |     |    default "toolchain-external-mine"
  |     |endif
  |     `----
  |- toolchain/toolchain-external-mine/toolchain-external-mine.mk
  |     |TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_MINE_SITE = https://example.net/some/place
  |     |TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_MINE_SOURCE = my-toolchain.tar.gz
  |     |$(eval $(toolchain-external-package))
  |     `----
  |
  |- linux/Config.ext.in
  |     |config BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_EXT_EXAMPLE_DRIVER
  |     |    bool "example-external-driver"
  |     |    help
  |     |      Example external driver
  |     |---
  |- linux/linux-ext-example-driver.mk
  |
  |- configs/my-board_defconfig
  |     |BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR="$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/patches/"
  |     |BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY="$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/my-board/overlay/"
  |     |BR2_ROOTFS_POST_IMAGE_SCRIPT="$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/my-board/post-image.sh"
  |     |BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE="$(BR2_EXTERNAL_BAR_42_PATH)/board/my-board/kernel.config"
  |     `----
  |
  |- patches/linux/0001-some-change.patch
  |- patches/linux/0002-some-other-change.patch
  |- patches/busybox/0001-fix-something.patch
  |
  |- board/my-board/kernel.config
  |- board/my-board/overlay/var/www/index.html
  |- board/my-board/overlay/var/www/my.css
  |- board/my-board/flash-image
  `- board/my-board/post-image.sh
        |#!/bin/sh
        |generate-my-binary-image \
        |    --root ${BINARIES_DIR}/rootfs.tar \
        |    --kernel ${BINARIES_DIR}/zImage \
        |    --dtb ${BINARIES_DIR}/my-board.dtb \
        |    --output ${BINARIES_DIR}/image.bin
        `----</pre><p>The br2-external tree will then be visible in the menuconfig (with
the layout expanded):</p><pre class="screen">External options  ---&gt;
    *** Example br2-external tree (in /path/to/br2-ext-tree/)
    [ ] pkg-1
    [ ] pkg-2
    (0x10AD) my-board flash address</pre><p>If you are using more than one br2-external tree, it would look like
(with the layout expanded and the second one with name <code class="literal">FOO_27</code> but no
<code class="literal">desc:</code> field in <code class="literal">external.desc</code>):</p><pre class="screen">External options  ---&gt;
    Example br2-external tree  ---&gt;
        *** Example br2-external tree (in /path/to/br2-ext-tree)
        [ ] pkg-1
        [ ] pkg-2
        (0x10AD) my-board flash address
    FOO_27  ---&gt;
        *** FOO_27 (in /path/to/another-br2-ext)
        [ ] foo
        [ ] bar</pre><p>Additionally, the jpeg provider will be visible in the jpeg choice:</p><pre class="screen">Target packages  ---&gt;
    Libraries  ---&gt;
        Graphics  ---&gt;
            [*] jpeg support
                jpeg variant ()  ---&gt;
                    ( ) jpeg
                    ( ) jpeg-turbo
                        *** jpeg from: Example br2-external tree ***
                    (X) my-jpeg
                        *** jpeg from: FOO_27 ***
                    ( ) another-jpeg</pre><p>And similarly for the toolchains:</p><pre class="screen">Toolchain  ---&gt;
    Toolchain ()  ---&gt;
        ( ) Custom toolchain
            *** Toolchains from: Example br2-external tree ***
        (X) my custom toolchain</pre><p><strong>Note. </strong>The toolchain options in <code class="literal">toolchain/toolchain-external-mine/Config.in.options</code>
will not appear in the <code class="literal">Toolchain</code> menu. They must be explicitly included
from within the br2-external’s top-level <code class="literal">Config.in</code> and will thus appear
in the <code class="literal">External options</code> menu.</p></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="customize-store-buildroot-config"></a>9.3. Storing the Buildroot configuration</h2></div></div></div><p>The Buildroot configuration can be stored using the command
 <code class="literal">make savedefconfig</code>.</p><p>This strips the Buildroot configuration down by removing configuration
options that are at their default value. The result is stored in a file
called <code class="literal">defconfig</code>. If you want to save it in another place, change the
<code class="literal">BR2_DEFCONFIG</code> option in the Buildroot configuration itself, or call
make with <code class="literal">make savedefconfig BR2_DEFCONFIG=&lt;path-to-defconfig&gt;</code>.</p><p>The recommended place to store this defconfig is
<code class="literal">configs/&lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig</code>. If you follow this recommendation, the
configuration will be listed in <code class="literal">make list-defconfigs</code> and can be set
again by running <code class="literal">make &lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig</code>.</p><p>Alternatively, you can copy the file to any other place and rebuild with
<code class="literal">make defconfig BR2_DEFCONFIG=&lt;path-to-defconfig-file&gt;</code>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="customize-store-package-config"></a>9.4. Storing the configuration of other components</h2></div></div></div><p>The configuration files for BusyBox, the Linux kernel, Barebox, U-Boot
and uClibc should be stored as well if changed. For each of these
components, a Buildroot configuration option exists to point to an input
configuration file, e.g. <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>. To store
their configuration, set these configuration options to a path where you
want to save the configuration files, and then use the helper targets
described below to actually store the configuration.</p><p>As explained in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended path to
store these configuration files is
<code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/foo.config</code>.</p><p>Make sure that you create a configuration file <span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span> changing
the <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code> etc. options. Otherwise,
Buildroot will try to access this config file, which doesn’t exist
yet, and will fail. You can create the configuration file by running
<code class="literal">make linux-menuconfig</code> etc.</p><p>Buildroot provides a few helper targets to make the saving of
configuration files easier.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make linux-update-defconfig</code> saves the linux configuration to the
  path specified by <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>. It
  simplifies the config file by removing default values. However,
  this only works with kernels starting from 2.6.33. For earlier
  kernels, use <code class="literal">make linux-update-config</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make busybox-update-config</code> saves the busybox configuration to the
  path specified by <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_CONFIG</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make uclibc-update-config</code> saves the uClibc configuration to the
  path specified by <code class="literal">BR2_UCLIBC_CONFIG</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make barebox-update-defconfig</code> saves the barebox configuration to the
  path specified by <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_BAREBOX_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make uboot-update-defconfig</code> saves the U-Boot configuration to the
  path specified by <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
For at91bootstrap3, no helper exists so you have to copy the config
  file manually to <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_AT91BOOTSTRAP3_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="rootfs-custom"></a>9.5. Customizing the generated target filesystem</h2></div></div></div><p>Besides changing the configuration through <code class="literal">make *config</code>,
there are a few other ways to customize the resulting target filesystem.</p><p>The two recommended methods, which can co-exist, are root filesystem
overlay(s) and post build script(s).</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
Root filesystem overlays (<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY</code>)
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">A filesystem overlay is a tree of files that is copied directly
  over the target filesystem after it has been built. To enable this
  feature, set config option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY</code> (in the <code class="literal">System
  configuration</code> menu) to the root of the overlay. You can even specify
  multiple overlays, space-separated. If you specify a relative path,
  it will be relative to the root of the Buildroot tree. Hidden
  directories of version control systems, like <code class="literal">.git</code>, <code class="literal">.svn</code>, <code class="literal">.hg</code>,
  etc., files called <code class="literal">.empty</code> and files ending in <code class="literal">~</code> are excluded from
  the copy.</p><p class="simpara">When <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_MERGED_USR</code> is enabled, then the overlay must not
  contain the <span class="emphasis"><em>/bin</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>/lib</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>/sbin</em></span> directories, as Buildroot will
  create them as symbolic links to the relevant folders in <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr</em></span>.  In
  such a situation, should the overlay have any programs or libraries,
  they should be placed in <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/bin</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/sbin</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/lib</em></span>.</p><p class="simpara">As shown in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended path for
  this overlay is <code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/rootfs-overlay</code>.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
Post-build scripts (<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT</code>)
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">Post-build scripts are shell scripts called <span class="emphasis"><em>after</em></span> Buildroot builds
  all the selected software, but <span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span> the rootfs images are
  assembled. To enable this feature, specify a space-separated list of
  post-build scripts in config option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT</code> (in
  the <code class="literal">System configuration</code> menu). If you specify a relative path, it
  will be relative to the root of the Buildroot tree.</p><p class="simpara">Using post-build scripts, you can remove or modify any file in your
  target filesystem. You should, however, use this feature with care.
  Whenever you find that a certain package generates wrong or unneeded
  files, you should fix that package rather than work around it with some
  post-build cleanup scripts.</p><p class="simpara">As shown in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended path for
  this script is <code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/post_build.sh</code>.</p><p class="simpara">The post-build scripts are run with the main Buildroot tree as current
  working directory. The path to the target filesystem is passed as the
  first argument to each script. If the config option
  <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_SCRIPT_ARGS</code> is not empty, these arguments will be
  passed to the script too. All the scripts will be passed the exact
  same set of arguments, it is not possible to pass different sets of
  arguments to each script.</p><p class="simpara">In addition, you may also use these environment variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_CONFIG</code>: the path to the Buildroot .config file
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">CONFIG_DIR</code>: the directory containing the .config file, and
    therefore the top-level Buildroot Makefile to use (which is
    correct for both in-tree and out-of-tree builds)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOST_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">STAGING_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">TARGET_DIR</code>: see
    <a class="xref" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">Section 18.6.2, “<code class="literal">generic-package</code> reference”</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_DIR</code>: the directory where packages are extracted and built
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BINARIES_DIR</code>: the place where all binary files (aka images) are
    stored
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BASE_DIR</code>: the base output directory
</li></ul></div></dd></dl></div><p>Below three more methods of customizing the target filesystem are
described, but they are not recommended.</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
Direct modification of the target filesystem
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">For temporary modifications, you can modify the target filesystem
  directly and rebuild the image. The target filesystem is available
  under <code class="literal">output/target/</code>. After making your changes, run <code class="literal">make</code> to
  rebuild the target filesystem image.</p><p class="simpara">This method allows you to do anything to the target filesystem, but if
  you need to clean your Buildroot tree using <code class="literal">make clean</code>, these
  changes will be lost. Such cleaning is necessary in several cases,
  refer to <a class="xref" href="#full-rebuild" title="8.2. Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary">Section 8.2, “Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary”</a> for details. This solution is therefore
  only useful for quick tests: <span class="emphasis"><em>changes do not survive the <code class="literal">make clean</code>
  command</em></span>. Once you have validated your changes, you should make sure
  that they will persist after a <code class="literal">make clean</code>, using a root filesystem
  overlay or a post-build script.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
Custom target skeleton (<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM</code>)
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">The root filesystem image is created from a target skeleton, on top of
  which all packages install their files. The skeleton is copied to the
  target directory <code class="literal">output/target</code> before any package is built and
  installed. The default target skeleton provides the standard Unix
  filesystem layout and some basic init scripts and configuration files.</p><p class="simpara">If the default skeleton (available under <code class="literal">system/skeleton</code>) does not
  match your needs, you would typically use a root filesystem overlay or
  post-build script to adapt it. However, if the default skeleton is
  entirely different than what you need, using a custom skeleton may be
  more suitable.</p><p class="simpara">To enable this feature, enable config option
  <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM</code> and set <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM_PATH</code>
  to the path of your custom skeleton. Both options are available in the
  <code class="literal">System configuration</code> menu. If you specify a relative path, it will
  be relative to the root of the Buildroot tree.</p><p class="simpara">Custom skeletons don’t need to contain the <span class="emphasis"><em>/bin</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>/lib</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>/sbin</em></span>
  directories, since they are created automatically during the build.
  When <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_MERGED_USR</code> is enabled, then the custom skeleton must
  not contain the <span class="emphasis"><em>/bin</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>/lib</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>/sbin</em></span> directories, as Buildroot
  will create them as symbolic links to the relevant folders in <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr</em></span>.
  In such a situation, should the skeleton have any programs or
  libraries, they should be placed in <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/bin</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/sbin</em></span> and
  <span class="emphasis"><em>/usr/lib</em></span>.</p><p class="simpara">This method is not recommended because it duplicates the entire
  skeleton, which prevents taking advantage of the fixes or improvements
  brought to the default skeleton in later Buildroot releases.</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
Post-fakeroot scripts (<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_FAKEROOT_SCRIPT</code>)
</span></dt><dd><p class="simpara">When aggregating the final images, some parts of the process requires
  root rights: creating device nodes in <code class="literal">/dev</code>, setting permissions or
  ownership to files and directories… To avoid requiring actual root
  rights, Buildroot uses <code class="literal">fakeroot</code> to simulate root rights. This is not
  a complete substitute for actually being root, but is enough for what
  Buildroot needs.</p><p class="simpara">Post-fakeroot scripts are shell scripts that are called at the <span class="emphasis"><em>end</em></span> of
  the fakeroot phase, <span class="emphasis"><em>right before</em></span> the filesystem image generator is
  called. As such, they are called in the fakeroot context.</p><p class="simpara">Post-fakeroot scripts can be useful in case you need to tweak the
  filesystem to do modifications that are usually only available to the
  root user.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>It is recommended to use the existing mechanisms to set file permissions
  or create entries in <code class="literal">/dev</code> (see <a class="xref" href="#customize-device-permission" title="9.5.1. Setting file permissions and ownership and adding custom devices nodes">Section 9.5.1, “Setting file permissions and ownership and adding custom devices nodes”</a>) or
  to create users (see <a class="xref" href="#customize-users" title="9.6. Adding custom user accounts">Section 9.6, “Adding custom user accounts”</a>)</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>The difference between post-build scripts (above) and fakeroot scripts,
  is that post-build scripts are not called in the fakeroot context.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>Using <code class="literal">fakeroot</code> is not an absolute substitute for actually being root.
  <code class="literal">fakeroot</code> only ever fakes the file access rights and types (regular,
  block-or-char device…) and uid/gid; these are emulated in-memory.</p></dd></dl></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="customize-device-permission"></a>9.5.1. Setting file permissions and ownership and adding custom devices nodes</h3></div></div></div><p>Sometimes it is needed to set specific permissions or ownership on files
or device nodes. For example, certain files may need to be owned by
root. Since the post-build scripts are not run as root, you cannot do
such changes from there unless you use an explicit fakeroot from the
post-build script.</p><p>Instead, Buildroot provides support for so-called <span class="emphasis"><em>permission tables</em></span>.
To use this feature, set config option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE</code> to a
space-separated list of permission tables, regular text files following
the <a class="link" href="#makedev-syntax" title="Chapter 25. Makedev syntax documentation">makedev syntax</a>.</p><p>If you are using a static device table (i.e. not using <code class="literal">devtmpfs</code>,
<code class="literal">mdev</code>, or <code class="literal">(e)udev</code>) then you can add device nodes using the same
syntax, in so-called <span class="emphasis"><em>device tables</em></span>. To use this feature, set config
option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_STATIC_DEVICE_TABLE</code> to a space-separated list of
device tables.</p><p>As shown in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended location for
such files is <code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/</code>.</p><p>It should be noted that if the specific permissions or device nodes are
related to a specific application, you should set variables
<code class="literal">FOO_PERMISSIONS</code> and <code class="literal">FOO_DEVICES</code> in the package’s <code class="literal">.mk</code> file instead
(see <a class="xref" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">Section 18.6.2, “<code class="literal">generic-package</code> reference”</a>).</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="customize-users"></a>9.6. Adding custom user accounts</h2></div></div></div><p>Sometimes it is needed to add specific users in the target system.
To cover this requirement, Buildroot provides support for so-called
<span class="emphasis"><em>users tables</em></span>. To use this feature, set config option
<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_USERS_TABLES</code> to a space-separated list of users tables,
regular text files following the <a class="link" href="#makeuser-syntax" title="Chapter 26. Makeusers syntax documentation">makeusers syntax</a>.</p><p>As shown in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended location for
such files is <code class="literal">board/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/</code>.</p><p>It should be noted that if the custom users are related to a specific
application, you should set variable <code class="literal">FOO_USERS</code> in the package’s <code class="literal">.mk</code>
file instead (see <a class="xref" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">Section 18.6.2, “<code class="literal">generic-package</code> reference”</a>).</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_customization_emphasis_after_emphasis_the_images_have_been_created"></a>9.7. Customization <span class="emphasis"><em>after</em></span> the images have been created</h2></div></div></div><p>While post-build scripts (<a class="xref" href="#rootfs-custom" title="9.5. Customizing the generated target filesystem">Section 9.5, “Customizing the generated target filesystem”</a>) are run <span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span>
building the filesystem image, kernel and bootloader, <span class="strong"><strong>post-image
scripts</strong></span> can be used to perform some specific actions <span class="emphasis"><em>after</em></span> all images
have been created.</p><p>Post-image scripts can for example be used to automatically extract your
root filesystem tarball in a location exported by your NFS server, or
to create a special firmware image that bundles your root filesystem and
kernel image, or any other custom action required for your project.</p><p>To enable this feature, specify a space-separated list of post-image
scripts in config option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_IMAGE_SCRIPT</code> (in the <code class="literal">System
configuration</code> menu). If you specify a relative path, it will be
relative to the root of the Buildroot tree.</p><p>Just like post-build scripts, post-image scripts are run with the main
Buildroot tree as current working directory. The path to the <code class="literal">images</code>
output directory is passed as the first argument to each script. If the
config option <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_SCRIPT_ARGS</code> is not empty, these
arguments will be passed to the script too. All the scripts will be
passed the exact same set of arguments, it is not possible to pass
different sets of arguments to each script.</p><p>Again just like for the post-build scripts, the scripts have access to
the environment variables <code class="literal">BR2_CONFIG</code>, <code class="literal">HOST_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">STAGING_DIR</code>,
<code class="literal">TARGET_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">BUILD_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">BINARIES_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">CONFIG_DIR</code> and
<code class="literal">BASE_DIR</code>.</p><p>The post-image scripts will be executed as the user that executes
Buildroot, which should normally <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> be the root user. Therefore, any
action requiring root permissions in one of these scripts will require
special handling (usage of fakeroot or sudo), which is left to the
script developer.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_adding_project_specific_patches_and_hashes"></a>9.8. Adding project-specific patches and hashes</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="customize-patches"></a>9.8.1. Providing extra patches</h3></div></div></div><p>It is sometimes useful to apply <span class="emphasis"><em>extra</em></span> patches to packages - on top of
those provided in Buildroot. This might be used to support custom
features in a project, for example, or when working on a new
architecture.</p><p>The <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> configuration option can be used to specify
a space separated list of one or more directories containing package
patches.</p><p>For a specific version <code class="literal">&lt;packageversion&gt;</code> of a specific package
<code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;</code>, patches are applied from <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> as
follows:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
For every directory - <code class="literal">&lt;global-patch-dir&gt;</code> - that exists in
  <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code>, a <code class="literal">&lt;package-patch-dir&gt;</code> will be determined as
  follows:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">&lt;global-patch-dir&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;/&lt;packageversion&gt;/</code> if the
  directory exists.
</li><li class="listitem">
Otherwise, <code class="literal">&lt;global-patch-dir&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;</code> if the directory
  exists.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Patches will then be applied from a <code class="literal">&lt;package-patch-dir&gt;</code> as
  follows:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If a <code class="literal">series</code> file exists in the package directory, then patches are
  applied according to the <code class="literal">series</code> file;
</li><li class="listitem">
Otherwise, patch files matching <code class="literal">*.patch</code> are applied in
  alphabetical order.  So, to ensure they are applied in the right
  order, it is highly recommended to name the patch files like this:
  <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;-&lt;description&gt;.patch</code>, where <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;</code> refers to the
  <span class="emphasis"><em>apply order</em></span>.
</li></ul></div></li></ol></div><p>For information about how patches are applied for a package, see
<a class="xref" href="#patch-apply-order" title="19.2. How patches are applied">Section 19.2, “How patches are applied”</a></p><p>The <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> option is the preferred method for
specifying a custom patch directory for packages. It can be used to
specify a patch directory for any package in buildroot. It should also
be used in place of the custom patch directory options that are
available for packages such as U-Boot and Barebox. By doing this, it
will allow a user to manage their patches from one top-level
directory.</p><p>The exception to <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> being the preferred method for
specifying custom patches is <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH</code>.
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH</code> should be used to specify kernel patches that
are available at a URL. <span class="strong"><strong>Note:</strong></span> <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH</code> specifies kernel
patches that are applied after patches available in <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code>,
as it is done from a post-patch hook of the Linux package.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="customize-hashes"></a>9.8.2. Providing extra hashes</h3></div></div></div><p>Buildroot bundles a <a class="link" href="#adding-packages-hash" title="18.4. The .hash file">list of hashes</a> against
which it checks the integrity of the downloaded archives, or of those
it generates locally from VCS checkouts. However, it can only do so
for the known versions; for packages where it is possible to specify
a custom version (e.g. a custom version string, a remote tarball URL,
or a VCS repository location and changeset), Buildroot can’t carry
hashes for those.</p><p>For users concerned with the integrity of such downloads, it is possible
to provide a list of hashes that Buildroot can use to check arbitrary
downloaded files. Those extra hashes are looked up similarly to the
extra patches (above); for each directory in <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code>,
the first file to exist is used to check a package download:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">&lt;global-patch-dir&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;/&lt;packageversion&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;.hash</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">&lt;global-patch-dir&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;/&lt;packagename&gt;.hash</code>
</li></ul></div><p>The <code class="literal">utils/add-custom-hashes</code> script can be used to generate these files.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="customize-packages"></a>9.9. Adding project-specific packages</h2></div></div></div><p>In general, any new package should be added directly in the <code class="literal">package</code>
directory and submitted to the Buildroot upstream project. How to add
packages to Buildroot in general is explained in full detail in
<a class="xref" href="#adding-packages" title="Chapter 18. Adding new packages to Buildroot">Chapter 18, <em>Adding new packages to Buildroot</em></a> and will not be repeated here. However, your
project may need some proprietary packages that cannot be upstreamed.
This section will explain how you can keep such project-specific
packages in a project-specific directory.</p><p>As shown in <a class="xref" href="#customize-dir-structure" title="9.1. Recommended directory structure">Section 9.1, “Recommended directory structure”</a>, the recommended location for
project-specific packages is <code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/</code>. If you are using the
br2-external tree feature (see <a class="xref" href="#outside-br-custom" title="9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot">Section 9.2, “Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot”</a>) the recommended
location is to put them in a sub-directory named <code class="literal">package/</code> in your
br2-external tree.</p><p>However, Buildroot will not be aware of the packages in this location,
unless we perform some additional steps. As explained in
<a class="xref" href="#adding-packages" title="Chapter 18. Adding new packages to Buildroot">Chapter 18, <em>Adding new packages to Buildroot</em></a>, a package in Buildroot basically consists of two
files: a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file (describing how to build the package) and a
<code class="literal">Config.in</code> file (describing the configuration options for this
package).</p><p>Buildroot will automatically include the <code class="literal">.mk</code> files in first-level
subdirectories of the <code class="literal">package</code> directory (using the pattern
<code class="literal">package/*/*.mk</code>). If we want Buildroot to include <code class="literal">.mk</code> files from
deeper subdirectories (like <code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/package1/</code>) then we
simply have to add a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file in a first-level subdirectory that
includes these additional <code class="literal">.mk</code> files. Therefore, create a file
<code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/&lt;company&gt;.mk</code> with following contents (assuming you
have only one extra directory level below <code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/</code>):</p><pre class="screen">include $(sort $(wildcard package/&lt;company&gt;/*/*.mk))</pre><p>For the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> files, create a file <code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/Config.in</code>
that includes the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> files of all your packages. An exhaustive
list has to be provided since wildcards are not supported in the source command of kconfig.
For example:</p><pre class="screen">source "package/&lt;company&gt;/package1/Config.in"
source "package/&lt;company&gt;/package2/Config.in"</pre><p>Include this new file <code class="literal">package/&lt;company&gt;/Config.in</code> from
<code class="literal">package/Config.in</code>, preferably in a company-specific menu to make
merges with future Buildroot versions easier.</p><p>If using a br2-external tree, refer to <a class="xref" href="#outside-br-custom" title="9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot">Section 9.2, “Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot”</a> for how
to fill in those files.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_quick_guide_to_storing_your_project_specific_customizations"></a>9.10. Quick guide to storing your project-specific customizations</h2></div></div></div><p>Earlier in this chapter, the different methods for making
project-specific customizations have been described. This section will
now summarize all this by providing step-by-step instructions to storing your
project-specific customizations. Clearly, the steps that are not relevant to
your project can be skipped.</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make menuconfig</code> to configure toolchain, packages and kernel.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make linux-menuconfig</code> to update the kernel config, similar for
   other configuration like busybox, uclibc, …
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">mkdir -p board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;</code>
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Set the following options to <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/&lt;package&gt;.config</code>
   (as far as they are relevant):
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_CONFIG</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_UCLIBC_CONFIG</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_AT91BOOTSTRAP3_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_BAREBOX_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Write the configuration files:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make linux-update-defconfig</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make busybox-update-config</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make uclibc-update-config</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cp &lt;output&gt;/build/at91bootstrap3-*/.config
     board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/at91bootstrap3.config</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make barebox-update-defconfig</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make uboot-update-defconfig</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
Create <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/rootfs-overlay/</code> and fill it
   with additional files you need on your rootfs, e.g.
   <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/rootfs-overlay/etc/inittab</code>.
   Set <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_OVERLAY</code>
   to <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/rootfs-overlay</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Create a post-build script
   <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/post_build.sh</code>. Set
   <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT</code> to
   <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/post_build.sh</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
If additional setuid permissions have to be set or device nodes have
   to be created, create <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/device_table.txt</code>
   and add that path to <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
If additional user accounts have to be created, create
   <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/users_table.txt</code> and add that path
   to <code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_USERS_TABLES</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
To add custom patches to certain packages, set <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code>
   to <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;/patches/</code> and add your patches
   for each package in a subdirectory named after the package. Each
   patch should be called <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;-&lt;num&gt;-&lt;description&gt;.patch</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Specifically for the Linux kernel, there also exists the option
   <code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_PATCH</code> with as main advantage that it can also
   download patches from a URL. If you do not need this,
   <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> is preferred. U-Boot, Barebox, at91bootstrap
   and at91bootstrap3 also have separate options, but these do not
   provide any advantage over <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> and will likely be
   removed in the future.
</li><li class="listitem">
If you need to add project-specific packages, create
   <code class="literal">package/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/</code> and place your packages in that
   directory. Create an overall <code class="literal">&lt;manufacturer&gt;.mk</code> file that
   includes the <code class="literal">.mk</code> files of all your packages. Create an overall
   <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file that sources the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> files of all your
   packages. Include this <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file from Buildroot’s
   <code class="literal">package/Config.in</code> file.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">make savedefconfig</code> to save the buildroot configuration.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cp defconfig configs/&lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig</code>
</li></ol></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="integration"></a>Chapter 10. Integration topics</h2></div></div></div><p>This chapter discusses how various things are integrated at system
level. Buildroot is highly configurable, almost everything discussed
here can be changed or overridden by <a class="link" href="#rootfs-custom" title="9.5. Customizing the generated target filesystem">rootfs overlay
or custom skeleton</a> configuration.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="integration-systemd"></a>10.1. Systemd</h2></div></div></div><p>This chapter describes the decisions taken in Buildroot’s integration of
systemd, and how various use cases can be implemented.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_dbus_daemon"></a>10.1.1. DBus daemon</h3></div></div></div><p>Systemd requires a DBus daemon. There are two options for it: traditional dbus
(<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_DBUS</code>) and bus1 dbus-broker (<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_DBUS_BROKER</code>). At
least one of them must be chosen. If both are included in the configuration,
dbus-broker will be used as system bus, but the traditional dbus-daemon is
still installed as well and can be used as session bus. Also its tools (e.g.
<code class="literal">dbus-send</code>) can be used (systemd itself has <code class="literal">busctl</code> as an alternative). In
addition, the traditional dbus package is the only one that provides <code class="literal">libdbus</code>,
which is used by many packages as dbus integration library.</p><p>Both in the dbus and in the dbus-broker case, the daemon runs as user <code class="literal">dbus</code>.
The DBus configuration files are also identical for both.</p><p>To make sure that only one of the two daemons is started as system bus, the
systemd activation files of the dbus package (<code class="literal">dbus.socket</code> and the
<code class="literal">dbus.service</code> symlink in <code class="literal">multi-user.target.wants</code>) are removed when
dbus-broker is selected.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="selinux"></a>10.2. Using SELinux in Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p><a class="ulink" href="https://selinuxproject.org" target="_top">SELinux</a> is a Linux kernel security module
enforcing access control policies. In addition to the traditional file
permissions and access control lists, <code class="literal">SELinux</code> allows to write rules
for users or processes to access specific functions of resources
(files, sockets…).</p><p><span class="emphasis"><em>SELinux</em></span> has three modes of operation:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<span class="emphasis"><em>Disabled</em></span>: the policy is not applied
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="emphasis"><em>Permissive</em></span>: the policy is applied, and non-authorized actions are
  simply logged. This mode is often used for troubleshooting SELinux
  issues.
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="emphasis"><em>Enforcing</em></span>: the policy is applied, and non-authorized actions are
  denied
</li></ul></div><p>In Buildroot the mode of operation is controlled by the
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY_POLICY_STATE_*</code> configuration options. The
Linux kernel also has various configuration options that affect how
<code class="literal">SELinux</code> is enabled (see <code class="literal">security/selinux/Kconfig</code> in the Linux
kernel sources).</p><p>By default in Buildroot the <code class="literal">SELinux</code> policy is provided by the
upstream <a class="ulink" href="https://github.com/SELinuxProject/refpolicy" target="_top">refpolicy</a>
project, enabled with <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY</code>.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="enabling-selinux"></a>10.2.1. Enabling SELinux support</h3></div></div></div><p>To have proper support for <code class="literal">SELinux</code> in a Buildroot generated system,
the following configuration options must be enabled:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_LIBSELINUX</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY</code>
</li></ul></div><p>In addition, your filesystem image format must support extended
attributes.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="selinux-policy-tweaking"></a>10.2.2. SELinux policy tweaking</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">SELinux refpolicy</code> contains modules that can be enabled or
disabled when being built. Each module provide a number of <code class="literal">SELinux</code>
rules. In Buildroot the non-base modules are disabled by default and
several ways to enable such modules are provided:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Packages can enable a list of <code class="literal">SELinux</code> modules within the <code class="literal">refpolicy</code> using
  the <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_SELINUX_MODULES</code> variable.
</li><li class="listitem">
Packages can provide additional <code class="literal">SELinux</code> modules by putting them (.fc, .if
  and .te files) in <code class="literal">package/&lt;packagename&gt;/selinux/</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Extra <code class="literal">SELinux</code> modules can be added in directories pointed by the
  <code class="literal">BR2_REFPOLICY_EXTRA_MODULES_DIRS</code> configuration option.
</li><li class="listitem">
Additional modules in the <code class="literal">refpolicy</code> can be enabled if listed in the
  <code class="literal">BR2_REFPOLICY_EXTRA_MODULES_DEPENDENCIES</code> configuration option.
</li></ul></div><p>Buildroot also allows to completely override the <code class="literal">refpolicy</code>. This
allows to provide a full custom policy designed specifically for a
given system. When going this way, all of the above mechanisms are
disabled: no extra <code class="literal">SElinux</code> module is added to the policy, and all
the available modules within the custom policy are enabled and built
into the final binary policy. The custom policy must be a fork of the
official <a class="ulink" href="https://github.com/SELinuxProject/refpolicy" target="_top">refpolicy</a>.</p><p>In order to fully override the <code class="literal">refpolicy</code> the following configuration
variables have to be set:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY_CUSTOM_GIT</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY_CUSTOM_REPO_URL</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_REFPOLICY_CUSTOM_REPO_VERSION</code>
</li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_frequently_asked_questions_amp_troubleshooting"></a>Chapter 11. Frequently Asked Questions &amp; Troubleshooting</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-boot-hang-after-starting"></a>11.1. The boot hangs after <span class="emphasis"><em>Starting network…</em></span></h2></div></div></div><p>If the boot process seems to hang after the following messages
(messages not necessarily exactly similar, depending on the list of
packages selected):</p><pre class="screen">Freeing init memory: 3972K
Initializing random number generator... done.
Starting network...
Starting dropbear sshd: generating rsa key... generating dsa key... OK</pre><p>then it means that your system is running, but didn’t start a shell on
the serial console. In order to have the system start a shell on your
serial console, you have to go into the Buildroot configuration, in
<code class="literal">System configuration</code>, modify <code class="literal">Run a getty (login prompt) after boot</code>
and set the appropriate port and baud rate in the <code class="literal">getty options</code>
submenu. This will automatically tune the <code class="literal">/etc/inittab</code> file of the
generated system so that a shell starts on the correct serial port.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-no-compiler-on-target"></a>11.2. Why is there no compiler on the target?</h2></div></div></div><p>It has been decided that support for the <span class="emphasis"><em>native compiler on the
target</em></span> would be stopped from the Buildroot-2012.11 release because:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
this feature was neither maintained nor tested, and often broken;
</li><li class="listitem">
this feature was only available for Buildroot toolchains;
</li><li class="listitem">
Buildroot mostly targets <span class="emphasis"><em>small</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>very small</em></span> target hardware
  with limited resource onboard (CPU, ram, mass-storage), for which
  compiling on the target does not make much sense;
</li><li class="listitem">
Buildroot aims at easing the cross-compilation, making native
  compilation on the target unnecessary.
</li></ul></div><p>If you need a compiler on your target anyway, then Buildroot is not
suitable for your purpose. In such case, you need a <span class="emphasis"><em>real
distribution</em></span> and you should opt for something like:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.openembedded.org" target="_top">openembedded</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="https://www.yoctoproject.org" target="_top">yocto</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="https://www.debian.org/ports/" target="_top">Debian</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures" target="_top">Fedora</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:ARM" target="_top">openSUSE ARM</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<a class="ulink" href="http://archlinuxarm.org" target="_top">Arch Linux ARM</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
…
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-no-dev-files-on-target"></a>11.3. Why are there no development files on the target?</h2></div></div></div><p>Since there is no compiler available on the target (see
<a class="xref" href="#faq-no-compiler-on-target" title="11.2. Why is there no compiler on the target?">Section 11.2, “Why is there no compiler on the target?”</a>), it does not make sense to waste
space with headers or static libraries.</p><p>Therefore, those files are always removed from the target since the
Buildroot-2012.11 release.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-no-doc-on-target"></a>11.4. Why is there no documentation on the target?</h2></div></div></div><p>Because Buildroot mostly targets <span class="emphasis"><em>small</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>very small</em></span> target
hardware with limited resource onboard (CPU, ram, mass-storage), it
does not make sense to waste space with the documentation data.</p><p>If you need documentation data on your target anyway, then Buildroot
is not suitable for your purpose, and you should look for a <span class="emphasis"><em>real
distribution</em></span> (see: <a class="xref" href="#faq-no-compiler-on-target" title="11.2. Why is there no compiler on the target?">Section 11.2, “Why is there no compiler on the target?”</a>).</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-why-not-visible-package"></a>11.5. Why are some packages not visible in the Buildroot config menu?</h2></div></div></div><p>If a package exists in the Buildroot tree and does not appear in the
config menu, this most likely means that some of the package’s
dependencies are not met.</p><p>To know more about the dependencies of a package, search for the
package symbol in the config menu (see <a class="xref" href="#make-tips" title="8.1. make tips">Section 8.1, “<span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> tips”</a>).</p><p>Then, you may have to recursively enable several options (which
correspond to the unmet dependencies) to finally be able to select
the package.</p><p>If the package is not visible due to some unmet toolchain options,
then you should certainly run a full rebuild (see <a class="xref" href="#make-tips" title="8.1. make tips">Section 8.1, “<span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> tips”</a> for
more explanations).</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-why-not-use-target-as-chroot"></a>11.6. Why not use the target directory as a chroot directory?</h2></div></div></div><p>There are plenty of reasons to <span class="strong"><strong>not</strong></span> use the target directory a chroot
one, among these:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
file ownerships, modes and permissions are not correctly set in the
  target directory;
</li><li class="listitem">
device nodes are not created in the target directory.
</li></ul></div><p>For these reasons, commands run through chroot, using the target
directory as the new root, will most likely fail.</p><p>If you want to run the target filesystem inside a chroot, or as an NFS
root, then use the tarball image generated in <code class="literal">images/</code> and extract it
as root.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-no-binary-packages"></a>11.7. Why doesn’t Buildroot generate binary packages (.deb, .ipkg…)?</h2></div></div></div><p>One feature that is often discussed on the Buildroot list is the
general topic of "package management". To summarize, the idea
would be to add some tracking of which Buildroot package installs
what files, with the goals of:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
being able to remove files installed by a package when this package
   gets unselected from the menuconfig;
</li><li class="listitem">
being able to generate binary packages (ipk or other format) that
   can be installed on the target without re-generating a new root
   filesystem image.
</li></ul></div><p>In general, most people think it is easy to do: just track which package
installed what and remove it when the package is unselected. However, it
is much more complicated than that:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
It is not only about the <code class="literal">target/</code> directory, but also the sysroot in
   <code class="literal">host/&lt;tuple&gt;/sysroot</code> and the <code class="literal">host/</code> directory itself. All files
   installed in those directories by various packages must be tracked.
</li><li class="listitem">
When a package is unselected from the configuration, it is not
   sufficient to remove just the files it installed. One must also
   remove all its reverse dependencies (i.e. packages relying on it)
   and rebuild all those packages. For example, package A depends
   optionally on the OpenSSL library. Both are selected, and Buildroot
   is built. Package A is built with crypto support using OpenSSL.
   Later on, OpenSSL gets unselected from the configuration, but
   package A remains (since OpenSSL is an optional dependency, this
   is possible.) If only OpenSSL files are removed, then the files
   installed by package A are broken: they use a library that is no
   longer present on the target. Although this is technically doable,
   it adds a lot of complexity to Buildroot, which goes against the
   simplicity we try to stick to.
</li><li class="listitem">
In addition to the previous problem, there is the case where the
   optional dependency is not even known to Buildroot. For example,
   package A in version 1.0 never used OpenSSL, but in version 2.0 it
   automatically uses OpenSSL if available. If the Buildroot .mk file
   hasn’t been updated to take this into account, then package A will
   not be part of the reverse dependencies of OpenSSL and will not be
   removed and rebuilt when OpenSSL is removed. For sure, the .mk file
   of package A should be fixed to mention this optional dependency,
   but in the mean time, you can have non-reproducible behaviors.
</li><li class="listitem">
The request is to also allow changes in the menuconfig to be
   applied on the output directory without having to rebuild
   everything from scratch. However, this is very difficult to achieve
   in a reliable way: what happens when the suboptions of a package
   are changed (we would have to detect this, and rebuild the package
   from scratch and potentially all its reverse dependencies), what
   happens if toolchain options are changed, etc. At the moment, what
   Buildroot does is clear and simple so its behaviour is very
   reliable and it is easy to support users. If configuration changes
   done in menuconfig are applied after the next make, then it has to
   work correctly and properly in all situations, and not have some
   bizarre corner cases. The risk is to get bug reports like "I have
   enabled package A, B and C, then ran make, then disabled package
   C and enabled package D and ran make, then re-enabled package C
   and enabled package E and then there is a build failure". Or worse
   "I did some configuration, then built, then did some changes,
   built, some more changes, built, some more changes, built, and now
   it fails, but I don’t remember all the changes I did and in which
   order". This will be impossible to support.
</li></ul></div><p>For all these reasons, the conclusion is that adding tracking of
installed files to remove them when the package is unselected, or to
generate a repository of binary packages, is something that is very
hard to achieve reliably and will add a lot of complexity.</p><p>On this matter, the Buildroot developers make this position statement:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Buildroot strives to make it easy to generate a root filesystem (hence
   the name, by the way.) That is what we want to make Buildroot good at:
   building root filesystems.
</li><li class="listitem">
Buildroot is not meant to be a distribution (or rather, a distribution
   generator.) It is the opinion of most Buildroot developers that this
   is not a goal we should pursue. We believe that there are other tools
   better suited to generate a distro than Buildroot is. For example,
   <a class="ulink" href="http://openembedded.org/" target="_top">Open Embedded</a>, or <a class="ulink" href="https://openwrt.org/" target="_top">openWRT</a>,
   are such tools.
</li><li class="listitem">
We prefer to push Buildroot in a direction that makes it easy (or even
   easier) to generate complete root filesystems. This is what makes
   Buildroot stands out in the crowd (among other things, of course!)
</li><li class="listitem">
We believe that for most embedded Linux systems, binary packages are
   not necessary, and potentially harmful. When binary packages are
   used, it means that the system can be partially upgraded, which
   creates an enormous number of possible combinations of package
   versions that should be tested before doing the upgrade on the
   embedded device. On the other hand, by doing complete system
   upgrades by upgrading the entire root filesystem image at once,
   the image deployed to the embedded system is guaranteed to really
   be the one that has been tested and validated.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-speeding-up-build"></a>11.8. How to speed-up the build process?</h2></div></div></div><p>Since Buildroot often involves doing full rebuilds of the entire
system that can be quite long, we provide below a number of tips to
help reduce the build time:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Use a pre-built external toolchain instead of the default Buildroot
   internal toolchain. By using a pre-built Linaro toolchain (on ARM)
   or a Sourcery CodeBench toolchain (for ARM, x86, x86-64, MIPS,
   etc.), you will save the build time of the toolchain at each
   complete rebuild, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Note that
   temporarily using an external toolchain does not prevent you to
   switch back to an internal toolchain (that may provide a higher
   level of customization) once the rest of your system is working;
</li><li class="listitem">
Use the <code class="literal">ccache</code> compiler cache (see: <a class="xref" href="#ccache" title="8.13.3. Using ccache in Buildroot">Section 8.13.3, “Using <code class="literal">ccache</code> in Buildroot”</a>);
</li><li class="listitem">
Learn about rebuilding only the few packages you actually care
   about (see <a class="xref" href="#rebuild-pkg" title="8.3. Understanding how to rebuild packages">Section 8.3, “Understanding how to rebuild packages”</a>), but beware that sometimes full
   rebuilds are anyway necessary (see <a class="xref" href="#full-rebuild" title="8.2. Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary">Section 8.2, “Understanding when a full rebuild is necessary”</a>);
</li><li class="listitem">
Make sure you are not using a virtual machine for the Linux system
   used to run Buildroot. Most of the virtual machine technologies are
   known to cause a significant performance impact on I/O, which is
   really important for building source code;
</li><li class="listitem">
Make sure that you’re using only local files: do not attempt to do
   a build over NFS, which significantly slows down the build. Having
   the Buildroot download folder available locally also helps a bit.
</li><li class="listitem">
Buy new hardware. SSDs and lots of RAM are key to speeding up the
   builds.
</li><li class="listitem">
Experiment with top-level parallel build, see
   <a class="xref" href="#top-level-parallel-build" title="8.12. Top-level parallel build">Section 8.12, “Top-level parallel build”</a>.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="faq-2038"></a>11.9. How does Buildroot support Y2038?</h2></div></div></div><p>There are multiple situations to consider:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
On 64-bit architectures, there is no problem, as <code class="literal">time_t</code> has
   always been 64-bit.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
On 32-bit architectures, the situation depends on the C library:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
With <span class="emphasis"><em>uclibc-ng</em></span>, there is no support for 64-bit <code class="literal">time_t</code> on
    32-bit architectures, so systems using <span class="emphasis"><em>uclibc-ng</em></span> on 32-bit
    platforms will not be Y2038 compatible.
</li><li class="listitem">
With <span class="emphasis"><em>musl</em></span>, 64-bit <code class="literal">time_t</code> has always been used on 32-bit
    architectures, so systems using <span class="emphasis"><em>musl</em></span> on 32-bit platforms are
    Y2038 compatible.
</li><li class="listitem">
With <span class="emphasis"><em>glibc</em></span>, 64-bit <code class="literal">time_t</code> on 32-bit architectures is enabled
    by the Buildroot option <code class="literal">BR2_TIME_BITS_64</code>. With this option
    enabled, systems using <span class="emphasis"><em>glibc</em></span> on 32-bit platforms are Y2038
    compatible.
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div><p>Note that the above only comments about the capabilities of the C
library. Individual user-space libraries or applications, even when
built in a Y2038-compatible setup, can exhibit incorrect behavior if
they do not make correct use of the time APIs and types.</p></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_known_issues"></a>Chapter 12. Known issues</h2></div></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
It is not possible to pass extra linker options via <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_LDFLAGS</code>
  if such options contain a <code class="literal">$</code> sign. For example, the following is known
  to break: <code class="literal">BR2_TARGET_LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath='$ORIGIN/../lib'"</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">libffi</code> package is not supported on the SuperH 2 and ARMv7-M
  architectures.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">prboom</code> package triggers a compiler failure with the SuperH 4
  compiler from Sourcery CodeBench, version 2012.09.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="legal-info"></a>Chapter 13. Legal notice and licensing</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_complying_with_open_source_licenses"></a>13.1. Complying with open source licenses</h2></div></div></div><p>All of the end products of Buildroot (toolchain, root filesystem, kernel,
bootloaders) contain open source software, released under various licenses.</p><p>Using open source software gives you the freedom to build rich embedded
systems, choosing from a wide range of packages, but also imposes some
obligations that you must know and honour.
Some licenses require you to publish the license text in the documentation of
your product. Others require you to redistribute the source code of the
software to those that receive your product.</p><p>The exact requirements of each license are documented in each package, and
it is your responsibility (or that of your legal office) to comply with those
requirements.
To make this easier for you, Buildroot can collect for you some material you
will probably need. To produce this material, after you have configured
Buildroot with <code class="literal">make menuconfig</code>, <code class="literal">make xconfig</code> or <code class="literal">make gconfig</code>, run:</p><pre class="screen">make legal-info</pre><p>Buildroot will collect legally-relevant material in your output directory,
under the <code class="literal">legal-info/</code> subdirectory.
There you will find:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
A <code class="literal">README</code> file, that summarizes the produced material and contains warnings
  about material that Buildroot could not produce.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">buildroot.config</code>: this is the Buildroot configuration file that is usually
  produced with <code class="literal">make menuconfig</code>, and which is necessary to reproduce the
  build.
</li><li class="listitem">
The source code for all packages; this is saved in the <code class="literal">sources/</code> and
  <code class="literal">host-sources/</code> subdirectories for target and host packages respectively.
  The source code for packages that set <code class="literal">&lt;PKG&gt;_REDISTRIBUTE = NO</code> will not be
  saved.
  Patches that were applied are also saved, along with a file named <code class="literal">series</code>
  that lists the patches in the order they were applied. Patches are under the
  same license as the files that they modify.
  Note: Buildroot applies additional patches to Libtool scripts of
  autotools-based packages. These patches can be found under
  <code class="literal">support/libtool</code> in the Buildroot source and, due to technical
  limitations, are not saved with the package sources. You may need to
  collect them manually.
</li><li class="listitem">
A manifest file (one for host and one for target packages) listing the
  configured packages, their version, license and related information.
  Some of this information might not be defined in Buildroot; such items are
  marked as "unknown".
</li><li class="listitem">
The license texts of all packages, in the <code class="literal">licenses/</code> and <code class="literal">host-licenses/</code>
  subdirectories for target and host packages respectively.
  If the license file(s) are not defined in Buildroot, the file is not produced
  and a warning in the <code class="literal">README</code> indicates this.
</li></ul></div><p>Please note that the aim of the <code class="literal">legal-info</code> feature of Buildroot is to
produce all the material that is somehow relevant for legal compliance with the
package licenses. Buildroot does not try to produce the exact material that
you must somehow make public. Certainly, more material is produced than is
needed for a strict legal compliance. For example, it produces the source code
for packages released under BSD-like licenses, that you are not required to
redistribute in source form.</p><p>Moreover, due to technical limitations, Buildroot does not produce some
material that you will or may need, such as the toolchain source code for
some of the external toolchains and the Buildroot source code itself.
When you run <code class="literal">make legal-info</code>, Buildroot produces warnings in the <code class="literal">README</code>
file to inform you of relevant material that could not be saved.</p><p>Finally, keep in mind that the output of <code class="literal">make legal-info</code> is based on
declarative statements in each of the packages recipes. The Buildroot
developers try to do their best to keep those declarative statements as
accurate as possible, to the best of their knowledge. However, it is very
well possible that those declarative statements are not all fully accurate
nor exhaustive. You (or your legal department) <span class="emphasis"><em>have</em></span> to check the output
of <code class="literal">make legal-info</code> before using it as your own compliance delivery. See
the <span class="emphasis"><em>NO WARRANTY</em></span> clauses (clauses 11 and 12) in the <code class="literal">COPYING</code> file at the
root of the Buildroot distribution.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="legal-info-buildroot"></a>13.2. Complying with the Buildroot license</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot itself is an open source software, released under the
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html" target="_top">GNU General
Public License, version 2</a> or (at your option) any later version, with
the exception of the package patches detailed below.
However, being a build system, it is not normally part of the end product:
if you develop the root filesystem, kernel, bootloader or toolchain for a
device, the code of Buildroot is only present on the development machine, not
in the device storage.</p><p>Nevertheless, the general view of the Buildroot developers is that you should
release the Buildroot source code along with the source code of other packages
when releasing a product that contains GPL-licensed software.
This is because the
<a class="ulink" href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html" target="_top">GNU GPL</a>
defines the "<span class="emphasis"><em>complete source code</em></span>" for an executable work as "<span class="emphasis"><em>all the
source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface
definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation
of the executable</em></span>".
Buildroot is part of the <span class="emphasis"><em>scripts used to control compilation and
installation of the executable</em></span>, and as such it is considered part of the
material that must be redistributed.</p><p>Keep in mind that this is only the Buildroot developers' opinion, and you
should consult your legal department or lawyer in case of any doubt.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_patches_to_packages"></a>13.2.1. Patches to packages</h3></div></div></div><p>Buildroot also bundles patch files, which are applied to the sources
of the various packages. Those patches are not covered by the license
of Buildroot. Instead, they are covered by the license of the software
to which the patches are applied. When said software is available
under multiple licenses, the Buildroot patches are only provided under
the publicly accessible licenses.</p><p>See <a class="xref" href="#patch-policy" title="Chapter 19. Patching a package">Chapter 19, <em>Patching a package</em></a> for the technical details.</p></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_beyond_buildroot"></a>Chapter 14. Beyond Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_boot_the_generated_images"></a>14.1. Boot the generated images</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_nfs_boot"></a>14.1.1. NFS boot</h3></div></div></div><p>To achieve NFS-boot, enable <span class="emphasis"><em>tar root filesystem</em></span> in the <span class="emphasis"><em>Filesystem
images</em></span> menu.</p><p>After a complete build, just run the following commands to setup the
NFS-root directory:</p><pre class="screen">sudo tar -xavf /path/to/output_dir/rootfs.tar -C /path/to/nfs_root_dir</pre><p>Remember to add this path to <code class="literal">/etc/exports</code>.</p><p>Then, you can execute a NFS-boot from your target.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_live_cd"></a>14.1.2. Live CD</h3></div></div></div><p>To build a live CD image, enable the <span class="emphasis"><em>iso image</em></span> option in the
<span class="emphasis"><em>Filesystem images</em></span> menu. Note that this option is only available on
the x86 and x86-64 architectures, and if you are building your kernel
with Buildroot.</p><p>You can build a live CD image with either IsoLinux, Grub or Grub 2 as
a bootloader, but only Isolinux supports making this image usable both
as a live CD and live USB (through the <span class="emphasis"><em>Build hybrid image</em></span> option).</p><p>You can test your live CD image using QEMU:</p><pre class="screen">qemu-system-i386 -cdrom output/images/rootfs.iso9660</pre><p>Or use it as a hard-drive image if it is a hybrid ISO:</p><pre class="screen">qemu-system-i386 -hda output/images/rootfs.iso9660</pre><p>It can be easily flashed to a USB drive with <code class="literal">dd</code>:</p><pre class="screen">dd if=output/images/rootfs.iso9660 of=/dev/sdb</pre></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_chroot"></a>14.2. Chroot</h2></div></div></div><p>If you want to chroot in a generated image, then there are few thing
you should be aware of:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
you should setup the new root from the <span class="emphasis"><em>tar root filesystem</em></span> image;
</li><li class="listitem">
either the selected target architecture is compatible with your host
  machine, or you should use some <code class="literal">qemu-*</code> binary and correctly set it
  within the <code class="literal">binfmt</code> properties to be able to run the binaries built
  for the target on your host machine;
</li><li class="listitem">
Buildroot does not currently provide <code class="literal">host-qemu</code> and <code class="literal">binfmt</code>
  correctly built and set for that kind of use.
</li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="part"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="_developer_guide"></a>Part III. Developer guide</h1></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_how_buildroot_works"></a>Chapter 15. How Buildroot works</h2></div></div></div><p>As mentioned above, Buildroot is basically a set of Makefiles that
download, configure, and compile software with the correct options. It
also includes patches for various software packages - mainly the ones
involved in the cross-compilation toolchain (<code class="literal">gcc</code>, <code class="literal">binutils</code> and
<code class="literal">uClibc</code>).</p><p>There is basically one Makefile per software package, and they are
named with the <code class="literal">.mk</code> extension. Makefiles are split into many different
parts.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">toolchain/</code> directory contains the Makefiles
  and associated files for all software related to the
  cross-compilation toolchain: <code class="literal">binutils</code>, <code class="literal">gcc</code>, <code class="literal">gdb</code>,
  <code class="literal">kernel-headers</code> and <code class="literal">uClibc</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">arch/</code> directory contains the definitions for all the processor
  architectures that are supported by Buildroot.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">package/</code> directory contains the Makefiles and
  associated files for all user-space tools and libraries that Buildroot
  can compile and add to the target root filesystem. There is one
  sub-directory per package.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">linux/</code> directory contains the Makefiles and associated files for
  the Linux kernel.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">boot/</code> directory contains the Makefiles and associated files for
  the bootloaders supported by Buildroot.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">system/</code> directory contains support for system integration, e.g.
  the target filesystem skeleton and the selection of an init system.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">fs/</code> directory contains the Makefiles and
  associated files for software related to the generation of the
  target root filesystem image.
</li></ul></div><p>Each directory contains at least 2 files:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">something.mk</code> is the Makefile that downloads, configures,
  compiles and installs the package <code class="literal">something</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">Config.in</code> is a part of the configuration tool
  description file. It describes the options related to the
  package.
</li></ul></div><p>The main Makefile performs the following steps (once the
configuration is done):</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Create all the output directories: <code class="literal">staging</code>, <code class="literal">target</code>, <code class="literal">build</code>,
  etc. in the output directory (<code class="literal">output/</code> by default,
  another value can be specified using <code class="literal">O=</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
Generate the toolchain target. When an internal toolchain is used, this
  means generating the cross-compilation toolchain. When an external
  toolchain is used, this means checking the features of the external
  toolchain and importing it into the Buildroot environment.
</li><li class="listitem">
Generate all the targets listed in the <code class="literal">TARGETS</code> variable. This
  variable is filled by all the individual components'
  Makefiles. Generating these targets will trigger the compilation of
  the userspace packages (libraries, programs), the kernel, the
  bootloader and the generation of the root filesystem images,
  depending on the configuration.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_coding_style"></a>Chapter 16. Coding style</h2></div></div></div><p>Overall, these coding style rules are here to help you to add new files in
Buildroot or refactor existing ones.</p><p>If you slightly modify some existing file, the important thing is
to keep the consistency of the whole file, so you can:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
either follow the potentially deprecated coding style used in this
file,
</li><li class="listitem">
or entirely rework it in order to make it comply with these rules.
</li></ul></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="writing-rules-config-in"></a>16.1. <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file</h2></div></div></div><p><code class="literal">Config.in</code> files contain entries for almost anything configurable in
Buildroot.</p><p>An entry has the following pattern:</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO
        bool "libfoo"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_LIBBAZ
        select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBBAR
        help
          This is a comment that explains what libfoo is. The help text
          should be wrapped.

          http://foosoftware.org/libfoo/</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">bool</code>, <code class="literal">depends on</code>, <code class="literal">select</code> and <code class="literal">help</code> lines are indented
  with one tab.
</li><li class="listitem">
The help text itself should be indented with one tab and two
  spaces.
</li><li class="listitem">
The help text should be wrapped to fit 72 columns, where tab counts
  for 8, so 62 characters in the text itself.
</li></ul></div><p>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> files are the input for the configuration tool
used in Buildroot, which is the regular <span class="emphasis"><em>Kconfig</em></span>. For further
details about the <span class="emphasis"><em>Kconfig</em></span> language, refer to
<a class="ulink" href="http://kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt" target="_top">http://kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="writing-rules-mk"></a>16.2. The <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</h2></div></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Header: The file starts with a header. It contains the module name,
preferably in lowercase, enclosed between separators made of 80 hashes. A
blank line is mandatory after the header:
</p><pre class="screen">################################################################################
#
# libfoo
#
################################################################################</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Assignment: use <code class="literal">=</code> preceded and followed by one space:
</p><pre class="screen">LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS += --without-python-support</pre><p class="simpara">Do not align the <code class="literal">=</code> signs.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Indentation: use tab only:
</p><pre class="screen">define LIBFOO_REMOVE_DOC
        $(RM) -r $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/libfoo/doc \
                $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/man/man3/libfoo*
endef</pre><p class="simpara">Note that commands inside a <code class="literal">define</code> block should always start with a tab,
so <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> recognizes them as commands.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Optional dependency:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Prefer multi-line syntax.
</p><p class="simpara">YES:</p><pre class="screen">ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3),y)
LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS += --with-python-support
LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES += python3
else
LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS += --without-python-support
endif</pre><p class="simpara">NO:</p><pre class="screen">LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS += --with$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3),,out)-python-support
LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES += $(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3),python3,)</pre></li><li class="listitem">
Keep configure options and dependencies close together.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Optional hooks: keep hook definition and assignment together in one
  if block.
</p><p class="simpara">YES:</p><pre class="screen">ifneq ($(BR2_LIBFOO_INSTALL_DATA),y)
define LIBFOO_REMOVE_DATA
        $(RM) -r $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/libfoo/data
endef
LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS += LIBFOO_REMOVE_DATA
endif</pre><p class="simpara">NO:</p><pre class="screen">define LIBFOO_REMOVE_DATA
        $(RM) -r $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/libfoo/data
endef

ifneq ($(BR2_LIBFOO_INSTALL_DATA),y)
LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS += LIBFOO_REMOVE_DATA
endif</pre></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="writing-genimage-cfg"></a>16.3. The <code class="literal">genimage.cfg</code> file</h2></div></div></div><p><code class="literal">genimage.cfg</code> files contain the output image layout that genimage utility
uses to create final .img file.</p><p>An example follows:</p><pre class="screen">image efi-part.vfat {
        vfat {
                file EFI {
                        image = "efi-part/EFI"
                }

                file Image {
                        image = "Image"
                }
        }

        size = 32M
}

image sdimage.img {
        hdimage {
        }

        partition u-boot {
                image = "efi-part.vfat"
                offset = 8K
        }

        partition root {
                image = "rootfs.ext2"
                size = 512M
        }
}</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Every <code class="literal">section</code>(i.e. hdimage, vfat etc.), <code class="literal">partition</code> must be indented
  with one tab.
</li><li class="listitem">
Every <code class="literal">file</code> or other <code class="literal">subnode</code> must be indented with two tabs.
</li><li class="listitem">
Every node(<code class="literal">section</code>, <code class="literal">partition</code>, <code class="literal">file</code>, <code class="literal">subnode</code>) must have an open
  curly bracket on the same line of the node’s name, while the closing one
  must be on a newline and after it a newline must be added except for the
  last one node. Same goes for its option, for example option <code class="literal">size</code> <code class="literal">=</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Every <code class="literal">option</code>(i.e. <code class="literal">image</code>, <code class="literal">offset</code>, <code class="literal">size</code>) must have the <code class="literal">=</code>
  assignment one space from it and one space from the value specified.
</li><li class="listitem">
Filename must at least begin with genimage prefix and have the .cfg
  extension to be easy to recognize.
</li><li class="listitem">
Allowed notations for <code class="literal">offset</code> and <code class="literal">size</code> options are: <code class="literal">G</code>, <code class="literal">M</code>, <code class="literal">K</code>
  (not <code class="literal">k</code>).  If it’s not possible to express a precise byte count
  with notations above then use hexadecimal <code class="literal">0x</code> prefix or, as last
  chance, the byte count.  In comments instead use <code class="literal">GB</code>, <code class="literal">MB</code>, <code class="literal">KB</code>
  (not <code class="literal">kb</code>) in place of <code class="literal">G</code>, <code class="literal">M</code>, <code class="literal">K</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
For GPT partitions, the <code class="literal">partition-type-uuid</code> value must be <code class="literal">U</code> for
  the EFI System Partition (expanded to
  <code class="literal">c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b</code> by <span class="emphasis"><em>genimage</em></span>), <code class="literal">F</code> for a FAT
  partition (expanded to <code class="literal">ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7</code> by
  <span class="emphasis"><em>genimage</em></span>) or <code class="literal">L</code> for the root filesystem or other filesystems
  (expanded to <code class="literal">0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4</code> by
  <span class="emphasis"><em>genimage</em></span>). Even though <code class="literal">L</code> is the default value of <span class="emphasis"><em>genimage</em></span>, we
  prefer to have it explicitly specified in our <code class="literal">genimage.cfg</code>
  files. Finally, these shortcuts should be used without double
  quotes, e.g <code class="literal">partition-type-uuid = U</code>. If an explicit GUID is
  specified, lower-case letters should be used.
</li></ul></div><p>The <code class="literal">genimage.cfg</code> files are the input for the genimage tool used in
Buildroot to generate the final image file(i.e. sdcard.img). For further
details about the <span class="emphasis"><em>genimage</em></span> language, refer to
<a class="ulink" href="https://github.com/pengutronix/genimage/blob/master/README.rst" target="_top">https://github.com/pengutronix/genimage/blob/master/README.rst</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_the_documentation"></a>16.4. The documentation</h2></div></div></div><p>The documentation uses the
<a class="ulink" href="https://asciidoc-py.github.io/" target="_top">asciidoc</a> format.</p><p>For further details about the asciidoc syntax, refer to
<a class="ulink" href="https://asciidoc-py.github.io/userguide.html" target="_top">https://asciidoc-py.github.io/userguide.html</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_support_scripts"></a>16.5. Support scripts</h2></div></div></div><p>Some scripts in the <code class="literal">support/</code> and <code class="literal">utils/</code> directories are written in
Python and should follow the
<a class="ulink" href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/" target="_top">PEP8 Style Guide for Python Code</a>.</p></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="adding-board-support"></a>Chapter 17. Adding support for a particular board</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot contains basic configurations for several publicly available
hardware boards, so that users of such a board can easily build a system
that is known to work. You are welcome to add support for other boards
to Buildroot too.</p><p>To do so, you need to create a normal Buildroot configuration that
builds a basic system for the hardware: (internal) toolchain, kernel,
bootloader, filesystem and a simple BusyBox-only userspace. No specific
package should be selected: the configuration should be as minimal as
possible, and should only build a working basic BusyBox system for the
target platform. You can of course use more complicated configurations
for your internal projects, but the Buildroot project will only
integrate basic board configurations. This is because package
selections are highly application-specific.</p><p>Once you have a known working configuration, run <code class="literal">make
savedefconfig</code>. This will generate a minimal <code class="literal">defconfig</code> file at the
root of the Buildroot source tree. Move this file into the <code class="literal">configs/</code>
directory, and rename it <code class="literal">&lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig</code>.</p><p>Always use fixed versions or commit hashes for the different
components, not the "latest" version. For example, set
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=y</code> and
<code class="literal">BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION_VALUE</code> to the kernel version you tested
with. If you are using the buildroot toolchain <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_BUILDROOT</code>
(which is the default), additionally ensure that the same kernel headers
are used (<code class="literal">BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_AS_KERNEL</code>, which is also the default) and
set the custom kernel headers series to match your kernel version
(<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_LINUX_HEADERS_CUSTOM_*</code>).</p><p>It is recommended to use as much as possible upstream versions of the
Linux kernel and bootloaders, and to use as much as possible default
kernel and bootloader configurations. If they are incorrect for your
board, or no default exists, we encourage you to send fixes to the
corresponding upstream projects.</p><p>However, in the mean time, you may want to store kernel or bootloader
configuration or patches specific to your target platform. To do so,
create a directory <code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;</code> and a subdirectory
<code class="literal">board/&lt;manufacturer&gt;/&lt;boardname&gt;</code>. You can then store your patches
and configurations in these directories, and reference them from the main
Buildroot configuration. Refer to <a class="xref" href="#customize" title="Chapter 9. Project-specific customization">Chapter 9, <em>Project-specific customization</em></a> for more details.</p><p>Before submitting patches for new boards it is recommended to test it by
building it using latest gitlab-CI docker container. To do this use
<code class="literal">utils/docker-run</code> script and inside it issue these commands:</p><pre class="screen"> $ make &lt;boardname&gt;_defconfig
 $ make</pre><p>By default, Buildroot developers use the official image hosted on the
<a class="ulink" href="https://gitlab.com/buildroot.org/buildroot/container_registry/2395076" target="_top">gitlab.com
registry</a> and it should be convenient for most usage. If you still want
to build your own docker image, you can base it off the official image
as the <code class="literal">FROM</code> directive of your own <span class="emphasis"><em>Dockerfile</em></span>:</p><pre class="screen">FROM registry.gitlab.com/buildroot.org/buildroot/base:YYYYMMDD.HHMM
RUN ...
COPY ...</pre><p>The current version <span class="emphasis"><em>YYYYMMDD.HHMM</em></span> can be found in the <code class="literal">.gitlab-ci.yml</code>
file at the top of the Buildroot source tree; all past versions are
listed in the aforementioned registry as well.</p></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="adding-packages"></a>Chapter 18. Adding new packages to Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>This section covers how new packages (userspace libraries or
applications) can be integrated into Buildroot. It also shows how
existing packages are integrated, which is needed for fixing issues or
tuning their configuration.</p><p>When you add a new package, be sure to test it in various conditions
(see <a class="xref" href="#testing-package" title="18.25.3. How to test your package">Section 18.25.3, “How to test your package”</a>) and also check it for coding style (see
<a class="xref" href="#check-package" title="18.25.2. How to check the coding style">Section 18.25.2, “How to check the coding style”</a>).</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_package_directory"></a>18.1. Package directory</h2></div></div></div><p>First of all, create a directory under the <code class="literal">package</code> directory for
your software, for example <code class="literal">libfoo</code>.</p><p>Some packages have been grouped by topic in a sub-directory:
<code class="literal">x11r7</code>, <code class="literal">qt5</code> and <code class="literal">gstreamer</code>. If your package fits in
one of these categories, then create your package directory in these.
New subdirectories are discouraged, however.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_config_files"></a>18.2. Config files</h2></div></div></div><p>For the package to be displayed in the configuration tool, you need to
create a Config file in your package directory. There are two types:
<code class="literal">Config.in</code> and <code class="literal">Config.in.host</code>.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_config_in_literal_file"></a>18.2.1. <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>For packages used on the target, create a file named <code class="literal">Config.in</code>. This
file will contain the option descriptions related to our <code class="literal">libfoo</code> software
that will be used and displayed in the configuration tool. It should basically
contain:</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO
        bool "libfoo"
        help
          This is a comment that explains what libfoo is. The help text
          should be wrapped.

          http://foosoftware.org/libfoo/</pre><p>The <code class="literal">bool</code> line, <code class="literal">help</code> line and other metadata information about the
configuration option must be indented with one tab. The help text
itself should be indented with one tab and two spaces, lines should
be wrapped to fit 72 columns, where tab counts for 8, so 62 characters
in the text itself. The help text must mention the upstream URL of the
project after an empty line.</p><p>As a convention specific to Buildroot, the ordering of the attributes
is as follows:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
The type of option: <code class="literal">bool</code>, <code class="literal">string</code>… with the prompt
</li><li class="listitem">
If needed, the <code class="literal">default</code> value(s)
</li><li class="listitem">
Any dependencies on the target in <code class="literal">depends on</code> form
</li><li class="listitem">
Any dependencies on the toolchain in <code class="literal">depends on</code> form
</li><li class="listitem">
Any dependencies on other packages in <code class="literal">depends on</code> form
</li><li class="listitem">
Any dependency of the <code class="literal">select</code> form
</li><li class="listitem">
The help keyword and help text.
</li></ol></div><p>You can add other sub-options into a <code class="literal">if BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO…endif</code>
statement to configure particular things in your software. You can look at
examples in other packages. The syntax of the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file is the same
as the one for the kernel Kconfig file. The documentation for this syntax is
available at <a class="ulink" href="http://kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt" target="_top">http://kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt</a></p><p>Finally you have to add your new <code class="literal">libfoo/Config.in</code> to
<code class="literal">package/Config.in</code> (or in a category subdirectory if you decided to
put your package in one of the existing categories). The files
included there are <span class="emphasis"><em>sorted alphabetically</em></span> per category and are <span class="emphasis"><em>NOT</em></span>
supposed to contain anything but the <span class="emphasis"><em>bare</em></span> name of the package.</p><pre class="screen">source "package/libfoo/Config.in"</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_config_in_host_literal_file"></a>18.2.2. <code class="literal">Config.in.host</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>Some packages also need to be built for the host system. There are two
options here:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The host package is only required to satisfy build-time
  dependencies of one or more target packages. In this case, add
  <code class="literal">host-foo</code> to the target package’s <code class="literal">BAR_DEPENDENCIES</code> variable. No
  <code class="literal">Config.in.host</code> file should be created.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
The host package should be explicitly selectable by the user from
  the configuration menu. In this case, create a <code class="literal">Config.in.host</code> file
  for that host package:
</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_FOO
        bool "host foo"
        help
          This is a comment that explains what foo for the host is.

          http://foosoftware.org/foo/</pre><p class="simpara">The same coding style and options as for the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file are valid.</p><p class="simpara">Finally you have to add your new <code class="literal">libfoo/Config.in.host</code> to
<code class="literal">package/Config.in.host</code>. The files included there are <span class="emphasis"><em>sorted alphabetically</em></span>
and are <span class="emphasis"><em>NOT</em></span> supposed to contain anything but the <span class="emphasis"><em>bare</em></span> name of the package.</p><pre class="screen">source "package/foo/Config.in.host"</pre><p class="simpara">The host package will then be available from the <code class="literal">Host utilities</code> menu.</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="depends-on-vs-select"></a>18.2.3. Choosing <code class="literal">depends on</code> or <code class="literal">select</code></h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file of your package must also ensure that
dependencies are enabled. Typically, Buildroot uses the following
rules:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Use a <code class="literal">select</code> type of dependency for dependencies on
  libraries. These dependencies are generally not obvious and it
  therefore make sense to have the kconfig system ensure that the
  dependencies are selected. For example, the <span class="emphasis"><em>libgtk2</em></span> package uses
  <code class="literal">select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBGLIB2</code> to make sure this library is also
  enabled.
  The <code class="literal">select</code> keyword expresses the dependency with a backward
  semantic.
</li><li class="listitem">
Use a <code class="literal">depends on</code> type of dependency when the user really needs to
  be aware of the dependency. Typically, Buildroot uses this type of
  dependency for dependencies on target architecture, MMU support and
  toolchain options (see <a class="xref" href="#dependencies-target-toolchain-options" title="18.2.4. Dependencies on target and toolchain options">Section 18.2.4, “Dependencies on target and toolchain options”</a>),
  or for dependencies on "big" things, such as the X.org system.
  The <code class="literal">depends on</code> keyword expresses the dependency with a forward
  semantic.
</li></ul></div><p><strong>Note. </strong>The current problem with the <span class="emphasis"><em>kconfig</em></span> language is that these two
dependency semantics are not internally linked. Therefore, it may be
possible to select a package, whom one of its dependencies/requirement
is not met.</p><p>An example illustrates both the usage of <code class="literal">select</code> and <code class="literal">depends on</code>.</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_RRDTOOL
        bool "rrdtool"
        depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
        select BR2_PACKAGE_FREETYPE
        select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBART
        select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBPNG
        select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
        help
          RRDtool is the OpenSource industry standard, high performance
          data logging and graphing system for time series data.

          http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/

comment "rrdtool needs a toolchain w/ wchar"
        depends on !BR2_USE_WCHAR</pre><p>Note that these two dependency types are only transitive with the
dependencies of the same kind.</p><p>This means, in the following example:</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_A
        bool "Package A"

config BR2_PACKAGE_B
        bool "Package B"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A

config BR2_PACKAGE_C
        bool "Package C"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_B

config BR2_PACKAGE_D
        bool "Package D"
        select BR2_PACKAGE_B

config BR2_PACKAGE_E
        bool "Package E"
        select BR2_PACKAGE_D</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Selecting <code class="literal">Package C</code> will be visible if <code class="literal">Package B</code> has been
  selected, which in turn is only visible if <code class="literal">Package A</code> has been
  selected.
</li><li class="listitem">
Selecting <code class="literal">Package E</code> will select <code class="literal">Package D</code>, which will select
  <code class="literal">Package B</code>, it will not check for the dependencies of <code class="literal">Package B</code>,
  so it will not select <code class="literal">Package A</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Since <code class="literal">Package B</code> is selected but <code class="literal">Package A</code> is not, this violates
  the dependency of <code class="literal">Package B</code> on <code class="literal">Package A</code>. Therefore, in such a
  situation, the transitive dependency has to be added explicitly:
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_D
        bool "Package D"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A
        select BR2_PACKAGE_B

config BR2_PACKAGE_E
        bool "Package E"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A
        select BR2_PACKAGE_D</pre><p>Overall, for package library dependencies, <code class="literal">select</code> should be
preferred.</p><p>Note that such dependencies will ensure that the dependency option
is also enabled, but not necessarily built before your package. To do
so, the dependency also needs to be expressed in the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file of the
package.</p><p>Further formatting details: see <a class="link" href="#writing-rules-config-in" title="16.1. Config.in file">the
coding style</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="dependencies-target-toolchain-options"></a>18.2.4. Dependencies on target and toolchain options</h3></div></div></div><p>Many packages depend on certain options of the toolchain: the choice of
C library, C++ support, thread support, RPC support, wchar support,
or dynamic library support. Some packages can only be built on certain
target architectures, or if an MMU is available in the processor.</p><p>These dependencies have to be expressed with the appropriate <span class="emphasis"><em>depends
on</em></span> statements in the Config.in file. Additionally, for dependencies on
toolchain options, a <code class="literal">comment</code> should be displayed when the option is
not enabled, so that the user knows why the package is not available.
Dependencies on target architecture or MMU support should not be
made visible in a comment: since it is unlikely that the user can
freely choose another target, it makes little sense to show these
dependencies explicitly.</p><p>The <code class="literal">comment</code> should only be visible if the <code class="literal">config</code> option itself would
be visible when the toolchain option dependencies are met. This means
that all other dependencies of the package (including dependencies on
target architecture and MMU support) have to be repeated on the
<code class="literal">comment</code> definition. To keep it clear, the <code class="literal">depends on</code> statement for
these non-toolchain option should be kept separate from the <code class="literal">depends on</code>
statement for the toolchain options.
If there is a dependency on a config option in that same file (typically
the main package) it is preferable to have a global <code class="literal">if … endif</code>
construct rather than repeating the <code class="literal">depends on</code> statement on the
comment and other config options.</p><p>The general format of a dependency <code class="literal">comment</code> for package foo is:</p><pre class="screen">foo needs a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC</pre><p>for example:</p><pre class="screen">mpd needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads, wchar</pre><p>or</p><pre class="screen">crda needs a toolchain w/ threads</pre><p>Note that this text is kept brief on purpose, so that it will fit on a
80-character terminal.</p><p>The rest of this section enumerates the different target and toolchain
options, the corresponding config symbols to depend on, and the text to
use in the comment.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Target architecture
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_powerpc</code>, <code class="literal">BR2_mips</code>, … (see <code class="literal">arch/Config.in</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: no comment to be added
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
MMU support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_USE_MMU</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: no comment to be added
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Gcc <code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>_sync</em></span>*</code> built-ins used for atomic operations. They are
  available in variants operating on 1 byte, 2 bytes, 4 bytes and 8
  bytes. Since different architectures support atomic operations on
  different sizes, one dependency symbol is available for each size:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_1</code> for 1 byte,
   <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_2</code> for 2 bytes,
   <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_4</code> for 4 bytes, <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_8</code>
   for 8 bytes.
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: no comment to be added
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Gcc <code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>_atomic</em></span>*</code> built-ins used for atomic operations.
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ATOMIC</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: no comment to be added
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Kernel headers
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_X_Y</code>, (replace
   <code class="literal">X_Y</code> with the proper version, see <code class="literal">toolchain/Config.in</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">headers &gt;= X.Y</code> and/or <code class="literal">headers &lt;= X.Y</code> (replace
   <code class="literal">X.Y</code> with the proper version)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
GCC version
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_X_Y</code>, (replace
   <code class="literal">X_Y</code> with the proper version, see <code class="literal">toolchain/Config.in</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">gcc &gt;= X.Y</code> and/or <code class="literal">gcc &lt;= X.Y</code> (replace
   <code class="literal">X.Y</code> with the proper version)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Host GCC version
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_X_Y</code>, (replace
   <code class="literal">X_Y</code> with the proper version, see <code class="literal">Config.in</code>)
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: no comment to be added
</li><li class="listitem">
Note that it is usually not the package itself that has a minimum
   host GCC version, but rather a host-package on which it depends.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
C library
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_GLIBC</code>,
   <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_MUSL</code>, <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: for the C library, a slightly different comment text
   is used: <code class="literal">foo needs a glibc toolchain</code>, or <code class="literal">foo needs a glibc
   toolchain w/ C++</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
C++ support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">C++</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
D support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_DLANG</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">Dlang</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Fortran support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_FORTRAN</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">fortran</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
thread support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">threads</code> (unless <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL</code>
   is also needed, in which case, specifying only <code class="literal">NPTL</code> is sufficient)
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
NPTL thread support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">NPTL</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
RPC support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_NATIVE_RPC</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">RPC</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
wchar support
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">BR2_USE_WCHAR</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">wchar</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
dynamic library
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
Dependency symbol: <code class="literal">!BR2_STATIC_LIBS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Comment string: <code class="literal">dynamic library</code>
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_dependencies_on_a_linux_kernel_built_by_buildroot"></a>18.2.5. Dependencies on a Linux kernel built by buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p>Some packages need a Linux kernel to be built by buildroot. These are
typically kernel modules or firmware. A comment should be added in the
Config.in file to express this dependency, similar to dependencies on
toolchain options. The general format is:</p><pre class="screen">foo needs a Linux kernel to be built</pre><p>If there is a dependency on both toolchain options and the Linux
kernel, use this format:</p><pre class="screen">foo needs a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC and a Linux kernel to be built</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_dependencies_on_udev_dev_management"></a>18.2.6. Dependencies on udev /dev management</h3></div></div></div><p>If a package needs udev /dev management, it should depend on symbol
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_UDEV</code>, and the following comment should be added:</p><pre class="screen">foo needs udev /dev management</pre><p>If there is a dependency on both toolchain options and udev /dev
management, use this format:</p><pre class="screen">foo needs udev /dev management and a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_dependencies_on_features_provided_by_virtual_packages"></a>18.2.7. Dependencies on features provided by virtual packages</h3></div></div></div><p>Some features can be provided by more than one package, such as the
openGL libraries.</p><p>See <a class="xref" href="#virtual-package-tutorial">Section 18.12, “Infrastructure for virtual packages”</a> for more on the virtual packages.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_the_literal_mk_literal_file"></a>18.3. The <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="adding-packages-mk"></a>Finally, here’s the hardest part. Create a file named <code class="literal">libfoo.mk</code>. It
describes how the package should be downloaded, configured, built,
installed, etc.</p><p>Depending on the package type, the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file must be written in a
different way, using different infrastructures:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<span class="strong"><strong>Makefiles for generic packages</strong></span> (not using autotools or CMake):
  These are based on an infrastructure similar to the one used for
  autotools-based packages, but require a little more work from the
  developer. They specify what should be done for the configuration,
  compilation and installation of the package. This
  infrastructure must be used for all packages that do not use the
  autotools as their build system. In the future, other specialized
  infrastructures might be written for other build systems. We cover
  them through in a <a class="link" href="#generic-package-tutorial" title="18.6.1. generic-package tutorial">tutorial</a> and a
  <a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">reference</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="strong"><strong>Makefiles for autotools-based software</strong></span> (autoconf, automake, etc.):
  We provide a dedicated infrastructure for such packages, since
  autotools is a very common build system. This infrastructure <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span>
  be used for new packages that rely on the autotools as their build
  system. We cover them through a <a class="link" href="#autotools-package-tutorial" title="18.7.1. autotools-package tutorial">tutorial</a>
  and <a class="link" href="#autotools-package-reference" title="18.7.2. autotools-package reference">reference</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="strong"><strong>Makefiles for cmake-based software</strong></span>: We provide a dedicated
   infrastructure for such packages, as CMake is a more and more
   commonly used build system and has a standardized behaviour. This
   infrastructure <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> be used for new packages that rely on
   CMake. We cover them through a <a class="link" href="#cmake-package-tutorial" title="18.8.1. cmake-package tutorial">tutorial</a>
   and <a class="link" href="#cmake-package-reference" title="18.8.2. cmake-package reference">reference</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="strong"><strong>Makefiles for Python modules</strong></span>: We have a dedicated infrastructure
   for Python modules that use the <code class="literal">flit</code>, <code class="literal">pep517</code>, <code class="literal">setuptools</code>,
   <code class="literal">setuptools-rust</code> or <code class="literal">maturin</code> mechanisms. We cover them through a
   <a class="link" href="#python-package-tutorial" title="18.9.1. python-package tutorial">tutorial</a> and a
   <a class="link" href="#python-package-reference" title="18.9.2. python-package reference">reference</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<span class="strong"><strong>Makefiles for Lua modules</strong></span>: We have a dedicated infrastructure for
   Lua modules available through the LuaRocks web site. We cover them
   through a <a class="link" href="#luarocks-package-tutorial" title="18.10.1. luarocks-package tutorial">tutorial</a> and a
   <a class="link" href="#luarocks-package-reference" title="18.10.2. luarocks-package reference">reference</a>.
</li></ul></div><p>Further formatting details: see <a class="link" href="#writing-rules-mk" title="16.2. The .mk file">the writing
rules</a>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="adding-packages-hash"></a>18.4. The <code class="literal">.hash</code> file</h2></div></div></div><p>When possible, you must add a third file, named <code class="literal">libfoo.hash</code>, that
contains the hashes of the downloaded files for the <code class="literal">libfoo</code>
package. The only reason for not adding a <code class="literal">.hash</code> file is when hash
checking is not possible due to how the package is downloaded.</p><p>When a package has a version selection choice, then the hash file may be
stored in a subdirectory named after the version, e.g.
<code class="literal">package/libfoo/1.2.3/libfoo.hash</code>. This is especially important if the
different versions have different licensing terms, but they are stored
in the same file. Otherwise, the hash file should stay in the package’s
directory.</p><p>The hashes stored in that file are used to validate the integrity of the
downloaded files and of the license files.</p><p>The format of this file is one line for each file for which to check the
hash, each line with the following three fields separated by two spaces:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
the type of hash, one of:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">md5</code>, <code class="literal">sha1</code>, <code class="literal">sha224</code>, <code class="literal">sha256</code>, <code class="literal">sha384</code>, <code class="literal">sha512</code>
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
the hash of the file:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">md5</code>, 32 hexadecimal characters
</li><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">sha1</code>, 40 hexadecimal characters
</li><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">sha224</code>, 56 hexadecimal characters
</li><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">sha256</code>, 64 hexadecimal characters
</li><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">sha384</code>, 96 hexadecimal characters
</li><li class="listitem">
for <code class="literal">sha512</code>, 128 hexadecimal characters
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
the name of the file:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
for a source archive: the basename of the file, without any directory
   component,
</li><li class="listitem">
for a license file: the path as it appears in <code class="literal">FOO_LICENSE_FILES</code>.
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div><p>Lines starting with a <code class="literal">#</code> sign are considered comments, and ignored. Empty
lines are ignored.</p><p>There can be more than one hash for a single file, each on its own line. In
this case, all hashes must match.</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>Ideally, the hashes stored in this file should match the hashes published by
upstream, e.g. on their website, in the e-mail announcement… If upstream
provides more than one type of hash (e.g. <code class="literal">sha1</code> and <code class="literal">sha512</code>), then it is
best to add all those hashes in the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file. If upstream does not
provide any hash, or only provides an <code class="literal">md5</code> hash, then compute at least one
strong hash yourself (preferably <code class="literal">sha256</code>, but not <code class="literal">md5</code>), and mention
this in a comment line above the hashes.</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>The hashes for license files are used to detect a license change when a
package version is bumped. The hashes are checked during the make legal-info
target run. For a package with multiple versions (like Qt5),
create the hash file in a subdirectory <code class="literal">&lt;packageversion&gt;</code> of that package
(see also <a class="xref" href="#patch-apply-order" title="19.2. How patches are applied">Section 19.2, “How patches are applied”</a>).</p><p>The example below defines a <code class="literal">sha1</code> and a <code class="literal">sha256</code> published by upstream for
the main <code class="literal">libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2</code> tarball, an <code class="literal">md5</code> from upstream and a
locally-computed <code class="literal">sha256</code> hashes for a binary blob, a <code class="literal">sha256</code> for a
downloaded patch, and an archive with no hash:</p><pre class="screen"># Hashes from: http://www.foosoftware.org/download/libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2.{sha1,sha256}:
sha1  486fb55c3efa71148fe07895fd713ea3a5ae343a  libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2
sha256  efc8103cc3bcb06bda6a781532d12701eb081ad83e8f90004b39ab81b65d4369  libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2

# md5 from: http://www.foosoftware.org/download/libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2.md5, sha256 locally computed:
md5  2d608f3c318c6b7557d551a5a09314f03452f1a1  libfoo-data.bin
sha256  01ba4719c80b6fe911b091a7c05124b64eeece964e09c058ef8f9805daca546b  libfoo-data.bin

# Locally computed:
sha256  ff52101fb90bbfc3fe9475e425688c660f46216d7e751c4bbdb1dc85cdccacb9  libfoo-fix-blabla.patch

# Hash for license files:
sha256  a45a845012742796534f7e91fe623262ccfb99460a2bd04015bd28d66fba95b8  COPYING
sha256  01b1f9f2c8ee648a7a596a1abe8aa4ed7899b1c9e5551bda06da6e422b04aa55  doc/COPYING.LGPL</pre><p>If the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file is present, and it contains one or more hashes for a
downloaded file, the hash(es) computed by Buildroot (after download) must
match the hash(es) stored in the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file. If one or more hashes do
not match, Buildroot considers this an error, deletes the downloaded file,
and aborts.</p><p>If the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file is present, but it does not contain a hash for a
downloaded file, Buildroot considers this an error and aborts. However,
the downloaded file is left in the download directory since this
typically indicates that the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file is wrong but the downloaded
file is probably OK.</p><p>Hashes are currently checked for files fetched from http/ftp servers,
Git or subversion repositories, files copied using scp and local files.
Hashes are not checked for other version control systems (such as CVS,
mercurial) because Buildroot currently does not generate reproducible
tarballs when source code is fetched from such version control
systems.</p><p>Additionally, for packages for which it is possible to specify a custom
version (e.g. a custom version string, a remote tarball URL, or a VCS
repository location and changeset), Buildroot can’t carry hashes for
those. It is however possible to <a class="link" href="#customize-hashes" title="9.8.2. Providing extra hashes">provide a list of
extra hashes</a> that can cover such cases.</p><p>Hashes should only be added in <code class="literal">.hash</code> files for files that are
guaranteed to be stable. For example, patches auto-generated by Github
are not guaranteed to be stable, and therefore their hashes can change
over time. Such patches should not be downloaded, and instead be added
locally to the package folder.</p><p>If the <code class="literal">.hash</code> file is missing, then no check is done at all.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="adding-packages-start-script"></a>18.5. The <code class="literal">SNNfoo</code> start script</h2></div></div></div><p>Packages that provide a system daemon usually need to be started somehow
at boot.  Buildroot comes with support for several init systems, some
are considered tier one (see <a class="xref" href="#init-system" title="6.3. init system">Section 6.3, “init system”</a>), while others are also
available but do not have the same level of integration.  Ideally, all
packages providing a system daemon should provide a start script for
BusyBox/SysV init and a systemd unit file.</p><p>For consistency, the start script must follow the style and composition
as shown in the reference: <code class="literal">package/busybox/S01syslogd</code>. An annotated
example of this style is shown below. There is no specific coding style
for systemd unit files, but if a package comes with its own unit file,
that is preferred over a buildroot specific one, if it is compatible
with buildroot.</p><p>The name of the start script is composed of the <code class="literal">SNN</code> and the daemon
name.  The <code class="literal">NN</code> is the start order number which needs to be carefully
chosen.  For example, a program that requires networking to be up should
not start before <code class="literal">S40network</code>.  The scripts are started in alphabetical
order, so <code class="literal">S01syslogd</code> starts before <code class="literal">S01watchdogd</code>, and <code class="literal">S02sysctl</code>
start thereafter.</p><pre class="screen">01: #!/bin/sh
02:
03: DAEMON="syslogd"
04: PIDFILE="/var/run/$DAEMON.pid"
05:
06: SYSLOGD_ARGS=""
07:
08: # shellcheck source=/dev/null
09: [ -r "/etc/default/$DAEMON" ] &amp;&amp; . "/etc/default/$DAEMON"
10:
11: # BusyBox' syslogd does not create a pidfile, so pass "-n" in the command line
12: # and use "-m" to instruct start-stop-daemon to create one.
13: start() {
14:     printf 'Starting %s: ' "$DAEMON"
15:     # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # we need the word splitting
16:     start-stop-daemon -b -m -S -q -p "$PIDFILE" -x "/sbin/$DAEMON" \
17:             -- -n $SYSLOGD_ARGS
18:     status=$?
19:     if [ "$status" -eq 0 ]; then
20:             echo "OK"
21:     else
22:             echo "FAIL"
23:     fi
24:     return "$status"
25: }
26:
27: stop() {
28:     printf 'Stopping %s: ' "$DAEMON"
29:     start-stop-daemon -K -q -p "$PIDFILE"
30:     status=$?
31:     if [ "$status" -eq 0 ]; then
32:             rm -f "$PIDFILE"
33:             echo "OK"
34:     else
35:             echo "FAIL"
36:     fi
37:     return "$status"
38: }
39:
40: restart() {
41:     stop
42:     sleep 1
43:     start
44: }
45:
46: case "$1" in
47:     start|stop|restart)
48:             "$1";;
49:     reload)
50:             # Restart, since there is no true "reload" feature.
51:             restart;;
52:     *)
53:             echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload}"
54:             exit 1
55: esac</pre><p><span class="strong"><strong>Note:</strong></span> programs that support reloading their configuration in some
fashion (<code class="literal">SIGHUP</code>) should provide a <code class="literal">reload()</code> function similar to
<code class="literal">stop()</code>.  The <code class="literal">start-stop-daemon</code> supports <code class="literal">-K -s HUP</code> for this.
It is recommended to always append <code class="literal">-x "/sbin/$DAEMON"</code> to all the
<code class="literal">start-stop-daemon</code> commands to ensure signals are set to a PID that
matches <code class="literal">$DAEMON</code>.</p><p>Both start scripts and unit files can source command line arguments from
<code class="literal">/etc/default/foo</code>, in general, if such a file does not exist it should
not block the start of the daemon, unless there is some site specirfic
command line argument the daemon requires to start.  For start scripts a
<code class="literal">FOO_ARGS="-s -o -m -e -args"</code> can be defined to a default value in and
the user can override this from <code class="literal">/etc/default/foo</code>.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_packages_with_specific_build_systems"></a>18.6. Infrastructure for packages with specific build systems</h2></div></div></div><p>By <span class="emphasis"><em>packages with specific build systems</em></span> we mean all the packages
whose build system is not one of the standard ones, such as
<span class="emphasis"><em>autotools</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>CMake</em></span>. This typically includes packages whose build
system is based on hand-written Makefiles or shell scripts.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="generic-package-tutorial"></a>18.6.1. <code class="literal">generic-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # libfoo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
11: LIBFOO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
12: LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
13: LIBFOO_CONFIG_SCRIPTS = libfoo-config
14: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = host-libaaa libbbb
15:
16: define LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS
17:     $(MAKE) $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) -C $(@D) all
18: endef
19:
20: define LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS
21:     $(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(@D)/libfoo.a $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib/libfoo.a
22:     $(INSTALL) -D -m 0644 $(@D)/foo.h $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include/foo.h
23:     $(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(@D)/libfoo.so* $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib
24: endef
25:
26: define LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
27:     $(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(@D)/libfoo.so* $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib
28:     $(INSTALL) -d -m 0755 $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/foo.d
29: endef
30:
31: define LIBFOO_USERS
32:     foo -1 libfoo -1 * - - - LibFoo daemon
33: endef
34:
35: define LIBFOO_DEVICES
36:     /dev/foo c 666 0 0 42 0 - - -
37: endef
38:
39: define LIBFOO_PERMISSIONS
40:     /bin/foo f 4755 foo libfoo - - - - -
41: endef
42:
43: $(eval $(generic-package))</pre><p>The Makefile begins on line 7 to 11 with metadata information: the
version of the package (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION</code>), the name of the
tarball containing the package (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SOURCE</code>) (xz-ed tarball recommended)
the Internet location at which the tarball can be downloaded from
(<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>), the license (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE</code>) and file with the
license text (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE_FILES</code>). All variables must start with
the same prefix, <code class="literal">LIBFOO_</code> in this case. This prefix is always the
uppercased version of the package name (see below to understand where
the package name is defined).</p><p>On line 12, we specify that this package wants to install something to
the staging space. This is often needed for libraries, since they must
install header files and other development files in the staging space.
This will ensure that the commands listed in the
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> variable will be executed.</p><p>On line 13, we specify that there is some fixing to be done to some
of the <span class="emphasis"><em>libfoo-config</em></span> files that were installed during
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> phase.
These *-config files are executable shell script files that are
located in <span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin</em></span> directory and are executed
by other 3rd party packages to find out the location and the linking
flags of this particular package.</p><p>The problem is that all these *-config files by default give wrong,
host system linking flags that are unsuitable for cross-compiling.</p><p>For example:    <span class="emphasis"><em>-I/usr/include</em></span> instead of <span class="emphasis"><em>-I$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include</em></span>
or:             <span class="emphasis"><em>-L/usr/lib</em></span> instead of <span class="emphasis"><em>-L$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib</em></span></p><p>So some sed magic is done to these scripts to make them give correct
flags.
The argument to be given to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIG_SCRIPTS</code> is the file name(s)
of the shell script(s) needing fixing. All these names are relative to
<span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin</em></span> and if needed multiple names can be given.</p><p>In addition, the scripts listed in <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIG_SCRIPTS</code> are removed
from <code class="literal">$(TARGET_DIR)/usr/bin</code>, since they are not needed on the target.</p><div class="example"><a id="idm3373"></a><p class="title"><strong>Example 18.1. Config script: <span class="emphasis"><em>divine</em></span> package</strong></p><div class="example-contents"><p>Package divine installs shell script <span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin/divine-config</em></span>.</p><p>So its fixup would be:</p><pre class="screen">DIVINE_CONFIG_SCRIPTS = divine-config</pre></div></div><br class="example-break" /><div class="example"><a id="idm3380"></a><p class="title"><strong>Example 18.2. Config script: <span class="emphasis"><em>imagemagick</em></span> package:</strong></p><div class="example-contents"><p>Package imagemagick installs the following scripts:
<span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin/{Magick,Magick++,MagickCore,MagickWand,Wand}-config</em></span></p><p>So it’s fixup would be:</p><pre class="screen">IMAGEMAGICK_CONFIG_SCRIPTS = \
   Magick-config Magick++-config \
   MagickCore-config MagickWand-config Wand-config</pre></div></div><br class="example-break" /><p>On line 14, we specify the list of dependencies this package relies
on. These dependencies are listed in terms of lower-case package names,
which can be packages for the target (without the <code class="literal">host-</code>
prefix) or packages for the host (with the <code class="literal">host-</code>) prefix).
Buildroot will ensure that all these packages are built and installed
<span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span> the current package starts its configuration.</p><p>The rest of the Makefile, lines 16..29, defines what should be done
at the different steps of the package configuration, compilation and
installation.
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS</code> tells what steps should be performed to
build the package. <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> tells what
steps should be performed to install the package in the staging space.
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code> tells what steps should be
performed to install the package in the target space.</p><p>All these steps rely on the <code class="literal">$(@D)</code> variable, which
contains the directory where the source code of the package has been
extracted.</p><p>On lines 31..33, we define a user that is used by this package (e.g.
to run a daemon as non-root) (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_USERS</code>).</p><p>On line 35..37, we define a device-node file used by this package
(<code class="literal">LIBFOO_DEVICES</code>).</p><p>On line 39..41, we define the permissions to set to specific files
installed by this package (<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PERMISSIONS</code>).</p><p>Finally, on line 43, we call the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> function, which
generates, according to the variables defined previously, all the
Makefile code necessary to make your package working.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="generic-package-reference"></a>18.6.2. <code class="literal">generic-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>There are two variants of the generic target. The <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro is
used for packages to be cross-compiled for the target. The
<code class="literal">host-generic-package</code> macro is used for host packages, natively compiled
for the host. It is possible to call both of them in a single <code class="literal">.mk</code>
file: once to create the rules to generate a target
package and once to create the rules to generate a host package:</p><pre class="screen">$(eval $(generic-package))
$(eval $(host-generic-package))</pre><p>This might be useful if the compilation of the target package requires
some tools to be installed on the host. If the package name is
<code class="literal">libfoo</code>, then the name of the package for the target is also
<code class="literal">libfoo</code>, while the name of the package for the host is
<code class="literal">host-libfoo</code>. These names should be used in the DEPENDENCIES
variables of other packages, if they depend on <code class="literal">libfoo</code> or
<code class="literal">host-libfoo</code>.</p><p>The call to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> and/or <code class="literal">host-generic-package</code> macro
<span class="strong"><strong>must</strong></span> be at the end of the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file, after all variable definitions.
The call to <code class="literal">host-generic-package</code> <span class="strong"><strong>must</strong></span> be after the call to
<code class="literal">generic-package</code>, if any.</p><p>For the target package, the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> uses the variables defined by
the .mk file and prefixed by the uppercased package name:
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_*</code>. <code class="literal">host-generic-package</code> uses the <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_*</code> variables. For
<span class="emphasis"><em>some</em></span> variables, if the <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_</code> prefixed variable doesn’t
exist, the package infrastructure uses the corresponding variable
prefixed by <code class="literal">LIBFOO_</code>. This is done for variables that are likely to
have the same value for both the target and host packages. See below
for details.</p><p>The list of variables that can be set in a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file to give metadata
information is (assuming the package name is <code class="literal">libfoo</code>) :</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION</code>, mandatory, must contain the version of the
  package. Note that if <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_VERSION</code> doesn’t exist, it is
  assumed to be the same as <code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION</code>. It can also be a
  revision number or a tag for packages that are fetched directly
  from their version control system. Examples:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
a version for a release tarball: <code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION = 0.1.2</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
a sha1 for a git tree: <code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION = cb9d6aa9429e838f0e54faa3d455bcbab5eef057</code>
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
a tag for a git tree <code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION = v0.1.2</code>
</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>Using a branch name as <code class="literal">FOO_VERSION</code> is not supported, because it does
not and can not work as people would expect it should:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
due to local caching, Buildroot will not re-fetch the repository,
     so people who expect to be able to follow the remote repository
     would be quite surprised and disappointed;
</li><li class="listitem">
because two builds can never be perfectly simultaneous, and because
     the remote repository may get new commits on the branch anytime,
     two users, using the same Buildroot tree and building the same
     configuration, may get different source, thus rendering the build
     non reproducible, and people would be quite surprised and
     disappointed.
</li></ol></div></li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SOURCE</code> may contain the name of the tarball of the package,
  which Buildroot will use to download the tarball from
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>. If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SOURCE</code> is not specified, it defaults
  to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SOURCE</code>. If none are specified, then the value is assumed
  to be <code class="literal">libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz</code>.
  Example: <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SOURCE = foobar-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.bz2</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PATCH</code> may contain a space-separated list of patch file
  names, that Buildroot will download and apply to the package source
  code. If an entry contains <code class="literal">://</code>, then Buildroot will assume it is a
  full URL and download the patch from this location. Otherwise,
  Buildroot will assume that the patch should be downloaded from
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>. If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_PATCH</code> is not specified, it defaults
  to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_PATCH</code>. Note that patches that are included in Buildroot
  itself use a different mechanism: all files of the form
  <code class="literal">*.patch</code> present in the package directory inside
  Buildroot will be applied to the package after extraction (see
  <a class="link" href="#patch-policy" title="Chapter 19. Patching a package">patching a package</a>). Finally, patches listed in
  the <code class="literal">LIBFOO_PATCH</code> variable are applied <span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span> the patches stored
  in the Buildroot package directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> provides the location of the package, which can be a
  URL or a local filesystem path. HTTP, FTP and SCP are supported URL
  types for retrieving package tarballs. In these cases don’t include a
  trailing slash: it will be added by Buildroot between the directory
  and the filename as appropriate. Git, Subversion, Mercurial,
  and Bazaar are supported URL types for retrieving packages directly
  from source code management systems. There is a helper function to make
  it easier to download source tarballs from GitHub (refer to
  <a class="xref" href="#github-download-url" title="18.25.4. How to add a package from GitHub">Section 18.25.4, “How to add a package from GitHub”</a> for details). A filesystem path may be used
  to specify either a tarball or a directory containing the package
  source code. See <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code> below for more details on how
  retrieval works.
  Note that SCP URLs should be of the form
  <code class="literal">scp://[user@]host:filepath</code>, and that filepath is relative to the
  user’s home directory, so you may want to prepend the path with a
  slash for absolute paths:
  <code class="literal">scp://[user@]host:/absolutepath</code>. The same goes for SFTP URLs.
  If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SITE</code> is not specified, it defaults to
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>.
  Examples:
    <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=http://www.libfoosoftware.org/libfoo</code>
    <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=http://svn.xiph.org/trunk/Tremor</code>
    <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=/opt/software/libfoo.tar.gz</code>
    <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=$(TOPDIR)/../src/libfoo</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_DL_OPTS</code> is a space-separated list of additional options to
  pass to the downloader. Useful for retrieving documents with
  server-side checking for user logins and passwords, or to use a proxy.
  All download methods valid for <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code> are supported;
  valid options depend on the download method (consult the man page
  for the respective download utilities).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_EXTRA_DOWNLOADS</code> is a space-separated list of additional
  files that Buildroot should download. If an entry contains <code class="literal">://</code>
  then Buildroot will assume it is a complete URL and will download
  the file using this URL. Otherwise, Buildroot will assume the file
  to be downloaded is located at <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>. Buildroot will not do
  anything with those additional files, except download them: it will
  be up to the package recipe to use them from <code class="literal">$(LIBFOO_DL_DIR)</code>.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code> determines the method used to fetch or copy the
  package source code. In many cases, Buildroot guesses the method
  from the contents of <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> and setting <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code>
  is unnecessary. When <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code> is not specified, it
  defaults to the value of <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code>.
  The possible values of <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD</code> are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">wget</code> for normal FTP/HTTP downloads of tarballs. Used by
     default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">http://</code>, <code class="literal">https://</code> or
     <code class="literal">ftp://</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">scp</code> for downloads of tarballs over SSH with scp. Used by
     default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">scp://</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">sftp</code> for downloads of tarballs over SSH with sftp. Used by
     default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">sftp://</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">svn</code> for retrieving source code from a Subversion repository.
     Used by default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">svn://</code>. When a
     <code class="literal">http://</code> Subversion repository URL is specified in
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>, one <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> specify <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=svn</code>.
     Buildroot performs a checkout which is preserved as a tarball in
     the download cache; subsequent builds use the tarball instead of
     performing another checkout.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">cvs</code> for retrieving source code from a CVS repository.
     Used by default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">cvs://</code>.
     The downloaded source code is cached as with the <code class="literal">svn</code> method.
     Anonymous pserver mode is assumed otherwise explicitly defined
     on <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>. Both
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=cvs://libfoo.net:/cvsroot/libfoo</code> and
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE=cvs://:ext:libfoo.net:/cvsroot/libfoo</code>
     are accepted, on the former anonymous pserver access mode is
     assumed.
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> contain the source URL as well as the remote
     repository directory. The module is the package name.
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_VERSION</code> is <span class="emphasis"><em>mandatory</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> be a tag, a branch, or
     a date (e.g. "2014-10-20", "2014-10-20 13:45", "2014-10-20
     13:45+01" see "man cvs" for further details).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">git</code> for retrieving source code from a Git repository. Used by
     default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">git://</code>. The downloaded
     source code is cached as with the <code class="literal">svn</code> method.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">hg</code> for retrieving source code from a Mercurial repository. One
     <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> specify <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=hg</code> when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>
     contains a Mercurial repository URL. The downloaded source code
     is cached as with the <code class="literal">svn</code> method.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">bzr</code> for retrieving source code from a Bazaar repository. Used
     by default when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> begins with <code class="literal">bzr://</code>. The
     downloaded source code is cached as with the <code class="literal">svn</code> method.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">file</code> for a local tarball. One should use this when
     <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> specifies a package tarball as a local filename.
     Useful for software that isn’t available publicly or in version
     control.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">local</code> for a local source code directory. One should use this
     when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> specifies a local directory path containing
     the package source code. Buildroot copies the contents of the
     source directory into the package’s build directory. Note that
     for <code class="literal">local</code> packages, no patches are applied. If you need to
     still patch the source code, use <code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_RSYNC_HOOKS</code>, see
     <a class="xref" href="#hooks-rsync" title="18.23.1. Using the POST_RSYNC hook">Section 18.23.1, “Using the <code class="literal">POST_RSYNC</code> hook”</a>.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_GIT_SUBMODULES</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> to create an archive
  with the git submodules in the repository.  This is only available
  for packages downloaded with git (i.e. when
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=git</code>).  Note that we try not to use such git
  submodules when they contain bundled libraries, in which case we
  prefer to use those libraries from their own package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_GIT_LFS</code> should be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> if the Git repository uses
  Git LFS to store large files out of band.  This is only available for
  packages downloaded with git (i.e. when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE_METHOD=git</code>).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SVN_EXTERNALS</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> to create an archive with
  the svn external references. This is only available for packages
  downloaded with subversion.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_STRIP_COMPONENTS</code> is the number of leading components
  (directories) that tar must strip from file names on extraction.
  The tarball for most packages has one leading component named
  "&lt;pkg-name&gt;-&lt;pkg-version&gt;", thus Buildroot passes
  --strip-components=1 to tar to remove it.
  For non-standard packages that don’t have this component, or
  that have more than one leading component to strip, set this
  variable with the value to be passed to tar. Default: 1.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_EXCLUDES</code> is a space-separated list of patterns to exclude
  when extracting the archive. Each item from that list is passed as
  a tar’s <code class="literal">--exclude</code> option. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependencies (in terms of package
  name) that are required for the current target package to
  compile. These dependencies are guaranteed to be compiled and
  installed before the configuration of the current package starts.
  However, modifications to configuration of these dependencies will
  not force a rebuild of the current package. In a similar way,
  <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependencies for the current
  host package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_EXTRACT_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependencies (in terms of
  package name) that are required for the current target package to be
  extracted. These dependencies are guaranteed to be compiled and
  installed before the extract step of the current package
  starts. This is only used internally by the package infrastructure,
  and should typically not be used directly by packages.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependencies (in terms of
  package name) that are required for the current package to be
  patched. These dependencies are guaranteed to be extracted and
  patched (but not necessarily built) before the current package is
  patched. In a similar way, <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists
  the dependencies for the current host package.
  This is seldom used; usually, <code class="literal">LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> is what you
  really want to use.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PROVIDES</code> lists all the virtual packages <code class="literal">libfoo</code> is an
  implementation of. See <a class="xref" href="#virtual-package-tutorial">Section 18.12, “Infrastructure for virtual packages”</a>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> or <code class="literal">NO</code> (default). If
  set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, then the commands in the <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code>
  variables are executed to install the package into the staging
  directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> (default) or <code class="literal">NO</code>. If
  set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, then the commands in the <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code>
  variables are executed to install the package into the target
  directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_IMAGES</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> or <code class="literal">NO</code> (default). If
  set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, then the commands in the <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_IMAGES_CMDS</code>
  variable are executed to install the package into the images
  directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIG_SCRIPTS</code> lists the names of the files in
  <span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin</em></span> that need some special fixing to make them
  cross-compiling friendly. Multiple file names separated by space can
  be given and all are relative to <span class="emphasis"><em>$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin</em></span>. The files
  listed in <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIG_SCRIPTS</code> are also removed from
  <code class="literal">$(TARGET_DIR)/usr/bin</code> since they are not needed on the target.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_DEVICES</code> lists the device files to be created by Buildroot
  when using the static device table. The syntax to use is the
  makedevs one. You can find some documentation for this syntax in the
  <a class="xref" href="#makedev-syntax" title="Chapter 25. Makedev syntax documentation">Chapter 25, <em>Makedev syntax documentation</em></a>. This variable is optional.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PERMISSIONS</code> lists the changes of permissions to be done at
  the end of the build process. The syntax is once again the makedevs one.
  You can find some documentation for this syntax in the <a class="xref" href="#makedev-syntax" title="Chapter 25. Makedev syntax documentation">Chapter 25, <em>Makedev syntax documentation</em></a>.
  This variable is optional.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_USERS</code> lists the users to create for this package, if it installs
  a program you want to run as a specific user (e.g. as a daemon, or as a
  cron-job). The syntax is similar in spirit to the makedevs one, and is
  described in the <a class="xref" href="#makeuser-syntax" title="Chapter 26. Makeusers syntax documentation">Chapter 26, <em>Makeusers syntax documentation</em></a>. This variable is optional.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE</code> defines the license (or licenses) under which the package
  is released.
  This name will appear in the manifest file produced by <code class="literal">make legal-info</code>.
  If the license appears in <a class="ulink" href="https://spdx.org/licenses/" target="_top">the SPDX License List</a>,
  use the SPDX short identifier to make the manifest file uniform.
  Otherwise, describe the license in a precise and concise way, avoiding
  ambiguous names such as <code class="literal">BSD</code> which actually name a family of licenses.
  This variable is optional. If it is not defined, <code class="literal">unknown</code> will appear in
  the <code class="literal">license</code> field of the manifest file for this package.
  The expected format for this variable must comply with the following rules:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
If different parts of the package are released under different
     licenses, then <code class="literal">comma</code> separate licenses (e.g. <code class="literal"><code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE =
     GPL-2.0+, LGPL-2.1+</code></code>). If there is clear distinction between which
     component is licensed under what license, then annotate the license
     with that component, between parenthesis (e.g. <code class="literal"><code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE =
     GPL-2.0+ (programs), LGPL-2.1+ (libraries)</code></code>).
</li><li class="listitem">
If some licenses are conditioned on a sub-option being enabled, append
     the conditional licenses with a comma (e.g.: <code class="literal">FOO_LICENSE += , GPL-2.0+
     (programs)</code>); the infrastructure will internally remove the space before
     the comma.
</li><li class="listitem">
If the package is dual licensed, then separate licenses with the
     <code class="literal">or</code> keyword (e.g. <code class="literal"><code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE = AFL-2.1 or GPL-2.0+</code></code>).
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LICENSE_FILES</code> is a space-separated list of files in the package
  tarball that contain the license(s) under which the package is released.
  <code class="literal">make legal-info</code> copies all of these files in the <code class="literal">legal-info</code> directory.
  See <a class="xref" href="#legal-info" title="Chapter 13. Legal notice and licensing">Chapter 13, <em>Legal notice and licensing</em></a> for more information.
  This variable is optional. If it is not defined, a warning will be produced
  to let you know, and <code class="literal">not saved</code> will appear in the <code class="literal">license files</code> field
  of the manifest file for this package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_ACTUAL_SOURCE_TARBALL</code> only applies to packages whose
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code> / <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SOURCE</code> pair points to an archive that does
  not actually contain source code, but binary code. This a very
  uncommon case, only known to apply to external toolchains which come
  already compiled, although theoretically it might apply to other
  packages. In such cases a separate tarball is usually available with
  the actual source code. Set <code class="literal">LIBFOO_ACTUAL_SOURCE_TARBALL</code> to the
  name of the actual source code archive and Buildroot will download
  it and use it when you run <code class="literal">make legal-info</code> to collect
  legally-relevant material.  Note this file will not be downloaded
  during regular builds nor by <code class="literal">make source</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_ACTUAL_SOURCE_SITE</code> provides the location of the actual
  source tarball. The default value is <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SITE</code>, so you don’t
  need to set this variable if the binary and source archives are
  hosted on the same directory.  If <code class="literal">LIBFOO_ACTUAL_SOURCE_TARBALL</code> is
  not set, it doesn’t make sense to define
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_ACTUAL_SOURCE_SITE</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_REDISTRIBUTE</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> (default) or <code class="literal">NO</code> to indicate if
  the package source code is allowed to be redistributed. Set it to <code class="literal">NO</code> for
  non-opensource packages: Buildroot will not save the source code for this
  package when collecting the <code class="literal">legal-info</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_FLAT_STACKSIZE</code> defines the stack size of an application built into
  the FLAT binary format. The application stack size on the NOMMU architecture
  processors can’t be enlarged at run time. The default stack size for the
  FLAT binary format is only 4k bytes. If the application consumes more stack,
  append the required number here.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_BIN_ARCH_EXCLUDE</code> is a space-separated list of paths (relative
  to the target directory) to ignore when checking that the package
  installs correctly cross-compiled binaries. You seldom need to set this
  variable, unless the package installs binary blobs outside the default
  locations, <code class="literal">/lib/firmware</code>, <code class="literal">/usr/lib/firmware</code>, <code class="literal">/lib/modules</code>,
  <code class="literal">/usr/lib/modules</code>, and <code class="literal">/usr/share</code>, which are automatically excluded.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_IGNORE_CVES</code> is a space-separated list of CVEs that tells
  Buildroot CVE tracking tools which CVEs should be ignored for this
  package. This is typically used when the CVE is fixed by a patch in
  the package, or when the CVE for some reason does not affect the
  Buildroot package. A Makefile comment must always precede the
  addition of a CVE to this variable. Example:
</p><pre class="screen"># 0001-fix-cve-2020-12345.patch
LIBFOO_IGNORE_CVES += CVE-2020-12345
# only when built with libbaz, which Buildroot doesn't support
LIBFOO_IGNORE_CVES += CVE-2020-54321</pre></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<a id="cpe-id"></a> <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_*</code> variables is a set of variables that allows the
  package to define its <a class="ulink" href="https://nvd.nist.gov/products/cpe" target="_top">CPE
  identifier</a>. The available variables are:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_VALID</code>, if set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, specifies that the default
   values for each of the following variables is appropriate, and
   generates a valid CPE ID.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_PREFIX</code>, specifies the prefix of the CPE identifier,
   i.e the first three fields. When not defined, the default value is
   <code class="literal">cpe:2.3:a</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_VENDOR</code>, specifies the vendor part of the CPE
   identifier. When not defined, the default value is
   <code class="literal">&lt;pkgname&gt;_project</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_PRODUCT</code>, specifies the product part of the CPE
   identifier. When not defined, the default value is <code class="literal">&lt;pkgname&gt;</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_VERSION</code>, specifies the version part of the CPE
   identifier. When not defined the default value is
   <code class="literal">$(LIBFOO_VERSION)</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_UPDATE</code> specifies the <span class="emphasis"><em>update</em></span> part of the CPE
   identifier. When not defined the default value is <code class="literal">*</code>.
</li></ul></div><p class="simpara">If any of those variables is defined, then the generic package
infrastructure assumes the package provides valid CPE information. In
this case, the generic package infrastructure will define
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID</code>.</p><p class="simpara">For a host package, if its <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CPE_ID_*</code> variables are not
defined, it inherits the value of those variables from the
corresponding target package.</p></li></ul></div><p>The recommended way to define these variables is to use the following
syntax:</p><pre class="screen">LIBFOO_VERSION = 2.32</pre><p>Now, the variables that define what should be performed at the
different steps of the build process.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_EXTRACT_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be performed to extract
  the package. This is generally not needed as tarballs are
  automatically handled by Buildroot. However, if the package uses a
  non-standard archive format, such as a ZIP or RAR file, or has a
  tarball with a non-standard organization, this variable allows to
  override the package infrastructure default behavior.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be performed to
  configure the package before its compilation.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be performed to
  compile the package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_INSTALL_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be performed
  to install the package, when the package is a host package. The
  package must install its files to the directory given by
  <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)</code>. All files, including development files such as
  headers should be installed, since other packages might be compiled
  on top of this package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be
  performed to install the package to the target directory, when the
  package is a target package. The package must install its files to
  the directory given by <code class="literal">$(TARGET_DIR)</code>. Only the files required for
  <span class="emphasis"><em>execution</em></span> of the package have to be
  installed. Header files, static libraries and documentation will be
  removed again when the target filesystem is finalized.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be
  performed to install the package to the staging directory, when the
  package is a target package. The package must install its files to
  the directory given by <code class="literal">$(STAGING_DIR)</code>. All development files
  should be installed, since they might be needed to compile other
  packages.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_IMAGES_CMDS</code> lists the actions to be performed to
  install the package to the images directory, when the package is a
  target package. The package must install its files to the directory
  given by <code class="literal">$(BINARIES_DIR)</code>. Only files that are binary images (aka
  images) that do not belong in the <code class="literal">TARGET_DIR</code> but are necessary
  for booting the board should be placed here. For example, a package
  should utilize this step if it has binaries which would be similar
  to the kernel image, bootloader or root filesystem images.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_SYSV</code>, <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_OPENRC</code> and
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_SYSTEMD</code> list the actions to install init
  scripts either for the systemV-like init systems (busybox,
  sysvinit, etc.), openrc or for the systemd units. These commands
  will be run only when the relevant init system is installed (i.e.
  if systemd is selected as the init system in the configuration,
  only <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_SYSTEMD</code> will be run). The only exception
  is when openrc is chosen as init system and <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_OPENRC</code>
  has not been set, in such situation <code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_INIT_SYSV</code> will
  be called, since openrc supports sysv init scripts.
  When systemd is used as the init system, buildroot will automatically enable
  all services using the <code class="literal">systemctl preset-all</code> command in the final phase of
  image building. You can add preset files to prevent a particular unit from
  being automatically enabled by buildroot.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_HELP_CMDS</code> lists the actions to print the package help, which
  is included to the main <code class="literal">make help</code> output. These commands can print
  anything in any format.
  This is seldom used, as packages rarely have custom rules. <span class="strong"><strong>Do not use
  this variable</strong></span>, unless you really know that you need to print help.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LINUX_CONFIG_FIXUPS</code> lists the Linux kernel configuration
  options that are needed to build and use this package, and without
  which the package is fundamentally broken. This shall be a set of
  calls to one of the kconfig tweaking option: <code class="literal">KCONFIG_ENABLE_OPT</code>,
  <code class="literal">KCONFIG_DISABLE_OPT</code>, or <code class="literal">KCONFIG_SET_OPT</code>.
  This is seldom used, as package usually have no strict requirements on
  the kernel options.
</li></ul></div><p>The preferred way to define these variables is:</p><pre class="screen">define LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS
        action 1
        action 2
        action 3
endef</pre><p>In the action definitions, you can use the following variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(LIBFOO_PKGDIR)</code> contains the path to the directory containing the
  <code class="literal">libfoo.mk</code> and <code class="literal">Config.in</code> files. This variable is useful when it is
  necessary to install a file bundled in Buildroot, like a runtime
  configuration file, a splashscreen image…
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(@D)</code>, which contains the directory in which the package source
  code has been uncompressed.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(LIBFOO_DL_DIR)</code> contains the path to the directory where all the downloads
  made by Buildroot for <code class="literal">libfoo</code> are stored in.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(TARGET_CC)</code>, <code class="literal">$(TARGET_LD)</code>, etc. to get the target
  cross-compilation utilities
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(TARGET_CROSS)</code> to get the cross-compilation toolchain prefix
</li><li class="listitem">
Of course the <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)</code>, <code class="literal">$(STAGING_DIR)</code> and <code class="literal">$(TARGET_DIR)</code>
  variables to install the packages properly. Those variables point to
  the global <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>staging</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> directories, unless
  <span class="emphasis"><em>per-package directory</em></span> support is used, in which case they point to
  the current package <span class="emphasis"><em>host</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>staging</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> directories. In
  both cases, it doesn’t make any difference from the package point of
  view: it should simply use <code class="literal">HOST_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">STAGING_DIR</code> and
  <code class="literal">TARGET_DIR</code>. See <a class="xref" href="#top-level-parallel-build" title="8.12. Top-level parallel build">Section 8.12, “Top-level parallel build”</a> for more details
  about <span class="emphasis"><em>per-package directory</em></span> support.
</li></ul></div><p>Finally, you can also use hooks. See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for more information.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_autotools_based_packages"></a>18.7. Infrastructure for autotools-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="autotools-package-tutorial"></a>18.7.1. <code class="literal">autotools-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for an autotools-based
package, with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # libfoo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
11: LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET = NO
12: LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS = --disable-shared
13: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = libglib2 host-pkgconf
14:
15: $(eval $(autotools-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball recommended)
and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot will automatically
download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we tell Buildroot to install the package to the staging
directory. The staging directory, located in <code class="literal">output/staging/</code>
is the directory where all the packages are installed, including their
development files, etc. By default, packages are not installed to the
staging directory, since usually, only libraries need to be installed in
the staging directory: their development files are needed to compile
other libraries or applications depending on them. Also by default, when
staging installation is enabled, packages are installed in this location
using the <code class="literal">make install</code> command.</p><p>On line 11, we tell Buildroot to not install the package to the
target directory. This directory contains what will become the root
filesystem running on the target. For purely static libraries, it is
not necessary to install them in the target directory because they will
not be used at runtime. By default, target installation is enabled; setting
this variable to NO is almost never needed. Also by default, packages are
installed in this location using the <code class="literal">make install</code> command.</p><p>On line 12, we tell Buildroot to pass a custom configure option, that
will be passed to the <code class="literal">./configure</code> script before configuring
and building the package.</p><p>On line 13, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>Finally, on line line 15, we invoke the <code class="literal">autotools-package</code>
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
package to be built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="autotools-package-reference"></a>18.7.2. <code class="literal">autotools-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the autotools package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">autotools-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The ability to
have target and host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-autotools-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the autotools infrastructure
works by defining a number of variables before calling the
<code class="literal">autotools-package</code> macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the autotools infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the autotools infrastructure,
can also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific
cases, typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory
  inside the package that contains the configure script. This is useful,
  if for example, the main configure script is not at the root of the
  tree extracted by the tarball. If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> is
  not specified, it defaults to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment
  variables to pass to the configure script. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional configure
  options to pass to the configure script. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE</code>, to specify an alternate <code class="literal">make</code>
  command. This is typically useful when parallel make is enabled in
  the configuration (using <code class="literal">BR2_JLEVEL</code>) but that this
  feature should be disabled for the given package, for one reason or
  another. By default, set to <code class="literal">$(MAKE)</code>. If parallel building
  is not supported by the package, then it should be set to
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE=$(MAKE1)</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment
  variables to pass to make in the build step. These are passed before
  the <code class="literal">make</code> command. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_OPTS</code>, to specify additional variables to
  pass to make in the build step. These are passed after the
  <code class="literal">make</code> command. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF</code>, tells whether the package should
  be autoreconfigured or not (i.e. if the configure script and
  Makefile.in files should be re-generated by re-running autoconf,
  automake, libtool, etc.). Valid values are <code class="literal">YES</code> and
  <code class="literal">NO</code>. By default, the value is <code class="literal">NO</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment
  variables to pass to the <span class="emphasis"><em>autoreconf</em></span> program if
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF=YES</code>. These are passed in the environment of
  the <span class="emphasis"><em>autoreconf</em></span> command. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF_OPTS</code> to specify additional options
  passed to the <span class="emphasis"><em>autoreconf</em></span> program if
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF=YES</code>. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTOPOINT</code>, tells whether the package should be
  autopointed or not (i.e. if the package needs I18N infrastructure
  copied in.) Only valid when <code class="literal">LIBFOO_AUTORECONF=YES</code>. Valid
  values are <code class="literal">YES</code> and <code class="literal">NO</code>. The default is <code class="literal">NO</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_LIBTOOL_PATCH</code> tells whether the Buildroot
  patch to fix libtool cross-compilation issues should be applied or
  not. Valid values are <code class="literal">YES</code> and <code class="literal">NO</code>. By
  default, the value is <code class="literal">YES</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPTS</code> contains the make options
  used to install the package to the staging directory. By default, the
  value is <code class="literal">DESTDIR=$(STAGING_DIR) install</code>, which is
  correct for most autotools packages. It is still possible to override
  it.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code> contains the make options
  used to install the package to the target directory. By default, the
  value is <code class="literal">DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) install</code>. The default
  value is correct for most autotools packages, but it is still possible
  to override it if needed.
</li></ul></div><p>With the autotools infrastructure, all the steps required to build
and install the packages are already defined, and they generally work
well for most autotools-based packages. However, when required, it is
still possible to customize what is done in any particular step:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch, configure,
  build or install). See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the autotools
  infrastructure is used, if the package <code class="literal">.mk</code> file defines its
  own <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used
  instead of the default autotools one. However, using this method
  should be restricted to very specific cases. Do not use it in the
  general case.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_cmake_based_packages"></a>18.8. Infrastructure for CMake-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="cmake-package-tutorial"></a>18.8.1. <code class="literal">cmake-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a CMake-based package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # libfoo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
11: LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET = NO
12: LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS = -DBUILD_DEMOS=ON
13: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = libglib2 host-pkgconf
14:
15: $(eval $(cmake-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball recommended)
and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot will automatically
download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we tell Buildroot to install the package to the staging
directory. The staging directory, located in <code class="literal">output/staging/</code>
is the directory where all the packages are installed, including their
development files, etc. By default, packages are not installed to the
staging directory, since usually, only libraries need to be installed in
the staging directory: their development files are needed to compile
other libraries or applications depending on them. Also by default, when
staging installation is enabled, packages are installed in this location
using the <code class="literal">make install</code> command.</p><p>On line 11, we tell Buildroot to not install the package to the
target directory. This directory contains what will become the root
filesystem running on the target. For purely static libraries, it is
not necessary to install them in the target directory because they will
not be used at runtime. By default, target installation is enabled; setting
this variable to NO is almost never needed. Also by default, packages are
installed in this location using the <code class="literal">make install</code> command.</p><p>On line 12, we tell Buildroot to pass custom options to CMake when it is
configuring the package.</p><p>On line 13, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>Finally, on line line 15, we invoke the <code class="literal">cmake-package</code>
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
package to be built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="cmake-package-reference"></a>18.8.2. <code class="literal">cmake-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the CMake package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">cmake-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The ability to
have target and host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-cmake-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the CMake infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">cmake-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the CMake infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the CMake infrastructure, can
also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific cases,
typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the
  package that contains the main CMakeLists.txt file. This is useful,
  if for example, the main CMakeLists.txt file is not at the root of
  the tree extracted by the tarball. If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> is not
  specified, it defaults to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CMAKE_BACKEND</code> specifies the cmake backend to use, one of
  <code class="literal">make</code> (to use the GNU Makefiles generator, the default) or <code class="literal">ninja</code>
  (to use the Ninja generator).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to
  pass to CMake. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional configure options to pass
  to CMake. By default, empty. A number of common CMake options are
  set by the <code class="literal">cmake-package</code> infrastructure; so it is normally not
  necessary to set them in the package’s <code class="literal">*.mk</code> file unless you want
  to override them:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE</code> is driven by <code class="literal">BR2_ENABLE_RUNTIME_DEBUG</code>;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX</code>;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_SHARED_LIBS</code> is driven by <code class="literal">BR2_STATIC_LIBS</code>;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_DOC</code>, <code class="literal">BUILD_DOCS</code> are disabled;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_EXAMPLE</code>, <code class="literal">BUILD_EXAMPLES</code> are disabled;
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_TEST</code>, <code class="literal">BUILD_TESTS</code>, <code class="literal">BUILD_TESTING</code> are disabled.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_BUILD_ENV</code> and <code class="literal">LIBFOO_BUILD_OPTS</code> to specify additional
  environment variables, or command line options, to pass to the backend
  at build time.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUPPORTS_IN_SOURCE_BUILD = NO</code> should be set when the package
  cannot be built inside the source tree but needs a separate build
  directory.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE</code>, to specify an alternate <code class="literal">make</code> command. This is
  typically useful when parallel make is enabled in the configuration
  (using <code class="literal">BR2_JLEVEL</code>) but that this feature should be disabled for
  the given package, for one reason or another. By default, set to
  <code class="literal">$(MAKE)</code>. If parallel building is not supported by the package,
  then it should be set to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE=$(MAKE1)</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to
  pass to make in the build step. These are passed before the <code class="literal">make</code>
  command. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_OPTS</code>, to specify additional variables to pass to make
  in the build step. These are passed after the <code class="literal">make</code> command. By
  default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_OPTS</code> contains the make options used to
  install the package to the host directory. By default, the value
  is <code class="literal">install</code>, which is correct for most CMake packages. It is still
  possible to override it.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPTS</code> contains the make options used to
  install the package to the staging directory. By default, the value
  is <code class="literal">DESTDIR=$(STAGING_DIR) install/fast</code>, which is correct for most
  CMake packages. It is still possible to override it.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code> contains the make options used to
  install the package to the target directory. By default, the value
  is <code class="literal">DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) install/fast</code>. The default value is correct
  for most CMake packages, but it is still possible to override it if
  needed.
</li></ul></div><p>With the CMake infrastructure, all the steps required to build and
install the packages are already defined, and they generally work well
for most CMake-based packages. However, when required, it is still
possible to customize what is done in any particular step:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch, configure,
  build or install). See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the CMake
  infrastructure is used, if the package <code class="literal">.mk</code> file defines its own
  <code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used instead of the
  default CMake one. However, using this method should be restricted
  to very specific cases. Do not use it in the general case.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_python_packages"></a>18.9. Infrastructure for Python packages</h2></div></div></div><p>This infrastructure applies to Python packages that use the standard
Python setuptools, pep517, flit or maturin mechanisms as their build
system, generally recognizable by the usage of a <code class="literal">setup.py</code> script or
<code class="literal">pyproject.toml</code> file.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="python-package-tutorial"></a>18.9.1. <code class="literal">python-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a Python package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # python-foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: PYTHON_FOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: PYTHON_FOO_SOURCE = python-foo-$(PYTHON_FOO_VERSION).tar.xz
09: PYTHON_FOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: PYTHON_FOO_LICENSE = BSD-3-Clause
11: PYTHON_FOO_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
12: PYTHON_FOO_ENV = SOME_VAR=1
13: PYTHON_FOO_DEPENDENCIES = libmad
14: PYTHON_FOO_SETUP_TYPE = setuptools
15:
16: $(eval $(python-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball
recommended) and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot
will automatically download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10 and 11, we give licensing details about the package (its
license on line 10, and the file containing the license text on line
11).</p><p>On line 12, we tell Buildroot to pass custom options to the Python
<code class="literal">setup.py</code> script when it is configuring the package.</p><p>On line 13, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>On line 14, we declare the specific Python build system being used. In
this case the <code class="literal">setuptools</code> Python build system is used. The five
supported ones are <code class="literal">flit</code>, <code class="literal">pep517</code>, <code class="literal">setuptools</code>, <code class="literal">setuptools-rust</code>
and <code class="literal">maturin</code>.</p><p>Finally, on line 16, we invoke the <code class="literal">python-package</code> macro that
generates all the Makefile rules that actually allow the package to be
built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="python-package-reference"></a>18.9.2. <code class="literal">python-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>As a policy, packages that merely provide Python modules should all be
named <code class="literal">python-&lt;something&gt;</code> in Buildroot. Other packages that use the
Python build system, but are not Python modules, can freely choose
their name (existing examples in Buildroot are <code class="literal">scons</code> and
<code class="literal">supervisor</code>).</p><p>The main macro of the Python package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">python-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. It is
also possible to create Python host packages with the
<code class="literal">host-python-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Python infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">python-package</code>
or <code class="literal">host-python-package</code> macros.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Python infrastructure.</p><p>Note that:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
It is not necessary to add <code class="literal">python</code> or <code class="literal">host-python</code> in the
   <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> variable of a package, since these basic
   dependencies are automatically added as needed by the Python
   package infrastructure.
</li><li class="listitem">
Similarly, it is not needed to add <code class="literal">host-python-setuptools</code> to
   <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> for setuptools-based packages, since it’s
   automatically added by the Python infrastructure as needed.
</li></ul></div><p>One variable specific to the Python infrastructure is mandatory:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_SETUP_TYPE</code>, to define which Python build system is used
  by the package. The five supported values are <code class="literal">flit</code>, <code class="literal">pep517</code> and
  <code class="literal">setuptools</code>, <code class="literal">setuptools-rust</code> and <code class="literal">maturin</code>. If you don’t know
  which one is used in your package, look at the <code class="literal">setup.py</code> or
  <code class="literal">pyproject.toml</code> file in your package source code, and see whether
  it imports things from the <code class="literal">flit</code> module or the <code class="literal">setuptools</code>
  module. If the package is using a <code class="literal">pyproject.toml</code> file without any
  build-system requires and with a local in-tree backend-path one
  should use <code class="literal">pep517</code>.
</li></ul></div><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Python infrastructure, can
optionally be defined, depending on the package’s needs. Many of them
are only useful in very specific cases, typical packages will
therefore only use a few of them, or none.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the
  package that contains the main <code class="literal">setup.py</code> or <code class="literal">pyproject.toml</code> file.
  This is useful, if for example, the main <code class="literal">setup.py</code> or <code class="literal">pyproject.toml</code>
  file is not at the root of the tree extracted by the tarball. If
  <code class="literal">HOST_PYTHON_FOO_SUBDIR</code> is not specified, it defaults to
  <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to
  pass to the Python <code class="literal">setup.py</code> script (for setuptools packages) or
  the <code class="literal">support/scripts/pyinstaller.py</code> script (for flit/pep517
  packages) for both the build and install steps. Note that the
  infrastructure is automatically passing several standard variables,
  defined in <code class="literal">PKG_PYTHON_SETUPTOOLS_ENV</code> (for setuptools target
  packages), <code class="literal">HOST_PKG_PYTHON_SETUPTOOLS_ENV</code> (for setuptools host
  packages), <code class="literal">PKG_PYTHON_PEP517_ENV</code> (for flit/pep517 target packages)
  and <code class="literal">HOST_PKG_PYTHON_PEP517_ENV</code> (for flit/pep517 host packages).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_BUILD_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to
  the Python <code class="literal">setup.py</code> script during the build step, this generally
  only makes sense to use for setuptools based packages as flit/pep517
  based packages do not pass these options to a <code class="literal">setup.py</code> script but
  instead pass them to <code class="literal">support/scripts/pyinstaller.py</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code>, <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPTS</code>,
  <code class="literal">HOST_PYTHON_FOO_INSTALL_OPTS</code> to specify additional options to pass
  to the Python <code class="literal">setup.py</code> script (for setuptools packages) or
  <code class="literal">support/scripts/pyinstaller.py</code> (for flit/pep517 packages) during
  the target installation step, the staging installation step or the
  host installation, respectively.
</li></ul></div><p>With the Python infrastructure, all the steps required to build and
install the packages are already defined, and they generally work well
for most Python-based packages. However, when required, it is still
possible to customize what is done in any particular step:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch, configure,
  build or install). See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the Python
  infrastructure is used, if the package <code class="literal">.mk</code> file defines its own
  <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_BUILD_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used instead of the
  default Python one. However, using this method should be restricted
  to very specific cases. Do not use it in the general case.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="scanpypi"></a>18.9.3. Generating a <code class="literal">python-package</code> from a PyPI repository</h3></div></div></div><p>If the Python package for which you would like to create a Buildroot
package is available on PyPI, you may want to use the <code class="literal">scanpypi</code> tool
located in <code class="literal">utils/</code> to automate the process.</p><p>You can find the list of existing PyPI packages
<a class="ulink" href="https://pypi.python.org" target="_top">here</a>.</p><p><code class="literal">scanpypi</code> requires Python’s <code class="literal">setuptools</code> package to be installed on
your host.</p><p>When at the root of your buildroot directory just do :</p><pre class="screen">utils/scanpypi foo bar -o package</pre><p>This will generate packages <code class="literal">python-foo</code> and <code class="literal">python-bar</code> in the package
folder if they exist on <a class="ulink" href="https://pypi.python.org" target="_top">https://pypi.python.org</a>.</p><p>Find the <code class="literal">external python modules</code> menu and insert your package inside.
Keep in mind that the items inside a menu should be in alphabetical order.</p><p>Please keep in mind that you’ll most likely have to manually check the
package for any mistakes as there are things that cannot be guessed by
the generator (e.g.  dependencies on any of the python core modules
such as BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_ZLIB).  Also, please take note that the
license and license files are guessed and must be checked. You also
need to manually add the package to the <code class="literal">package/Config.in</code> file.</p><p>If your Buildroot package is not in the official Buildroot tree but in
a br2-external tree, use the -o flag as follows:</p><pre class="screen">utils/scanpypi foo bar -o other_package_dir</pre><p>This will generate packages <code class="literal">python-foo</code> and <code class="literal">python-bar</code> in the
<code class="literal">other_package_directory</code> instead of <code class="literal">package</code>.</p><p>Option <code class="literal">-h</code> will list the available options:</p><pre class="screen">utils/scanpypi -h</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="python-package-cffi-backend"></a>18.9.4. <code class="literal">python-package</code> CFFI backend</h3></div></div></div><p>C Foreign Function Interface for Python (CFFI) provides a convenient
and reliable way to call compiled C code from Python using interface
declarations written in C. Python packages relying on this backend can
be identified by the appearance of a <code class="literal">cffi</code> dependency in the
<code class="literal">install_requires</code> field of their <code class="literal">setup.py</code> file.</p><p>Such a package should:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
add <code class="literal">python-cffi</code> as a runtime dependency in order to install the
compiled C library wrapper on the target. This is achieved by adding
<code class="literal">select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_CFFI</code> to the package <code class="literal">Config.in</code>.
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_FOO
        bool "python-foo"
        select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_CFFI # runtime</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
add <code class="literal">host-python-cffi</code> as a build-time dependency in order to
cross-compile the C wrapper. This is achieved by adding
<code class="literal">host-python-cffi</code> to the <code class="literal">PYTHON_FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> variable.
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">################################################################################
#
# python-foo
#
################################################################################

...

PYTHON_FOO_DEPENDENCIES = host-python-cffi

$(eval $(python-package))</pre></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_luarocks_based_packages"></a>18.10. Infrastructure for LuaRocks-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="luarocks-package-tutorial"></a>18.10.1. <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a LuaRocks-based package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # lua-foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LUA_FOO_VERSION = 1.0.2-1
08: LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM = foo
09: LUA_FOO_DEPENDENCIES = bar
10:
11: LUA_FOO_BUILD_OPTS += BAR_INCDIR=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include
12: LUA_FOO_BUILD_OPTS += BAR_LIBDIR=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib
13: LUA_FOO_LICENSE = luaFoo license
14: LUA_FOO_LICENSE_FILES = $(LUA_FOO_SUBDIR)/COPYING
15:
16: $(eval $(luarocks-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package (the same as in the rockspec,
which is the concatenation of the upstream version and the rockspec revision,
separated by a hyphen <span class="emphasis"><em>-</em></span>).</p><p>On line 8, we declare that the package is called "foo" on LuaRocks. In
Buildroot, we give Lua-related packages a name that starts with "lua", so the
Buildroot name is different from the upstream name. <code class="literal">LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM</code>
makes the link between the two names.</p><p>On line 9, we declare our dependencies against native libraries, so that they
are built before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>On lines 11-12, we tell Buildroot to pass custom options to LuaRocks when it is
building the package.</p><p>On lines 13-14, we specify the licensing terms for the package.</p><p>Finally, on line 16, we invoke the <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code>
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
package to be built.</p><p>Most of these details can be retrieved from the <code class="literal">rock</code> and <code class="literal">rockspec</code>.
So, this file and the Config.in file can be generated by running the
command <code class="literal">luarocks buildroot foo lua-foo</code> in the Buildroot
directory. This command runs a specific Buildroot addon of <code class="literal">luarocks</code>
that will automatically generate a Buildroot package. The result must
still be manually inspected and possibly modified.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">package/Config.in</code> file has to be updated manually to include the
  generated Config.in files.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="luarocks-package-reference"></a>18.10.2. <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>LuaRocks is a deployment and management system for Lua modules, and supports
various <code class="literal">build.type</code>: <code class="literal">builtin</code>, <code class="literal">make</code> and <code class="literal">cmake</code>. In the context of
Buildroot, the <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code> infrastructure only supports the <code class="literal">builtin</code>
mode. LuaRocks packages that use the <code class="literal">make</code> or <code class="literal">cmake</code> build mechanisms
should instead be packaged using the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> and <code class="literal">cmake-package</code>
infrastructures in Buildroot, respectively.</p><p>The main macro of the LuaRocks package infrastructure is <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code>:
like <code class="literal">generic-package</code> it works by defining a number of variables providing
metadata information about the package, and then calling the <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code>
macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the LuaRocks infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">luarocks-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the LuaRocks infrastructure.</p><p>Two of them are populated by the LuaRocks infrastructure (for the
<code class="literal">download</code> step). If your package is not hosted on the LuaRocks mirror
<code class="literal">$(BR2_LUAROCKS_MIRROR)</code>, you can override them:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_SITE</code>, which defaults to <code class="literal">$(BR2_LUAROCKS_MIRROR)</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_SOURCE</code>, which defaults to
  <code class="literal">$(lowercase LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM)-$(LUA_FOO_VERSION).src.rock</code>
</li></ul></div><p>A few additional variables, specific to the LuaRocks infrastructure, are
also defined. They can be overridden in specific cases.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM</code>, which defaults to <code class="literal">lua-foo</code>, i.e. the Buildroot
  package name
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_ROCKSPEC</code>, which defaults to
  <code class="literal">$(lowercase LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM)-$(LUA_FOO_VERSION).rockspec</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_SUBDIR</code>, which defaults to
  <code class="literal">$(LUA_FOO_NAME_UPSTREAM)-$(LUA_FOO_VERSION_WITHOUT_ROCKSPEC_REVISION)</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LUA_FOO_BUILD_OPTS</code> contains additional build options for the
  <code class="literal">luarocks build</code> call.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_perl_cpan_packages"></a>18.11. Infrastructure for Perl/CPAN packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="perl-package-tutorial"></a>18.11.1. <code class="literal">perl-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a Perl/CPAN package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # perl-foo-bar
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: PERL_FOO_BAR_VERSION = 0.02
08: PERL_FOO_BAR_SOURCE = Foo-Bar-$(PERL_FOO_BAR_VERSION).tar.gz
09: PERL_FOO_BAR_SITE = $(BR2_CPAN_MIRROR)/authors/id/M/MO/MONGER
10: PERL_FOO_BAR_DEPENDENCIES = perl-strictures
11: PERL_FOO_BAR_LICENSE = Artistic or GPL-1.0+
12: PERL_FOO_BAR_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
13: PERL_FOO_BAR_DISTNAME = Foo-Bar
14:
15: $(eval $(perl-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball and the location
of the tarball on a CPAN server. Buildroot will automatically download
the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>On line 11 and 12, we give licensing details about the package (its
license on line 11, and the file containing the license text on line
12).</p><p>On line 13, the name of the distribution as needed by the script
<code class="literal">utils/scancpan</code> (in order to regenerate/upgrade these package files).</p><p>Finally, on line 15, we invoke the <code class="literal">perl-package</code> macro that
generates all the Makefile rules that actually allow the package to be
built.</p><p>Most of these data can be retrieved from <a class="ulink" href="https://metacpan.org/" target="_top">https://metacpan.org/</a>.
So, this file and the Config.in can be generated by running
the script <code class="literal">utils/scancpan Foo-Bar</code> in the Buildroot directory
(or in a br2-external tree).
This script creates a Config.in file and foo-bar.mk file for the
requested package, and also recursively for all dependencies specified by
CPAN. You should still manually edit the result. In particular, the
following things should be checked.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If the perl module links with a shared library that is provided by
  another (non-perl) package, this dependency is not added automatically.
  It has to be added manually to <code class="literal">PERL_FOO_BAR_DEPENDENCIES</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
The <code class="literal">package/Config.in</code> file has to be updated manually to include the
  generated Config.in files. As a hint, the <code class="literal">scancpan</code> script prints out
  the required <code class="literal">source "…"</code> statements, sorted alphabetically.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="perl-package-reference"></a>18.11.2. <code class="literal">perl-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>As a policy, packages that provide Perl/CPAN modules should all be
named <code class="literal">perl-&lt;something&gt;</code> in Buildroot.</p><p>This infrastructure handles various Perl build systems :
<code class="literal">ExtUtils-MakeMaker</code> (EUMM), <code class="literal">Module-Build</code> (MB) and <code class="literal">Module-Build-Tiny</code>.
<code class="literal">Build.PL</code> is preferred by default when a package provides a <code class="literal">Makefile.PL</code>
and a <code class="literal">Build.PL</code>.</p><p>The main macro of the Perl/CPAN package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">perl-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The ability to
have target and host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-perl-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Perl/CPAN infrastructure
works by defining a number of variables before calling the
<code class="literal">perl-package</code> macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Perl/CPAN infrastructure.</p><p>Note that setting <code class="literal">PERL_FOO_INSTALL_STAGING</code> to <code class="literal">YES</code> has no effect
unless a <code class="literal">PERL_FOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> variable is defined. The perl
infrastructure doesn’t define these commands since Perl modules generally
don’t need to be installed to the <code class="literal">staging</code> directory.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Perl/CPAN infrastructure,
can also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific
cases, typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PERL_FOO_PREFER_INSTALLER</code>/<code class="literal">HOST_PERL_FOO_PREFER_INSTALLER</code>,
  specifies the preferred installation method. Possible values are
  <code class="literal">EUMM</code> (for <code class="literal">Makefile.PL</code> based installation using
  <code class="literal">ExtUtils-MakeMaker</code>) and <code class="literal">MB</code> (for <code class="literal">Build.PL</code> based installation
  using <code class="literal">Module-Build</code>). This variable is only used when the package
  provides both installation methods.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PERL_FOO_CONF_ENV</code>/<code class="literal">HOST_PERL_FOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional
  environment variables to pass to the <code class="literal">perl Makefile.PL</code> or <code class="literal">perl Build.PL</code>.
  By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PERL_FOO_CONF_OPTS</code>/<code class="literal">HOST_PERL_FOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional
  configure options to pass to the <code class="literal">perl Makefile.PL</code> or <code class="literal">perl Build.PL</code>.
  By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PERL_FOO_BUILD_OPTS</code>/<code class="literal">HOST_PERL_FOO_BUILD_OPTS</code>, to specify additional
  options to pass to <code class="literal">make pure_all</code> or <code class="literal">perl Build build</code> in the build step.
  By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">PERL_FOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to
  pass to <code class="literal">make pure_install</code> or <code class="literal">perl Build install</code> in the install step.
  By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOST_PERL_FOO_INSTALL_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to
  pass to <code class="literal">make pure_install</code> or <code class="literal">perl Build install</code> in the install step.
  By default, empty.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_virtual_packages"></a>18.12. Infrastructure for virtual packages</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="virtual-package-tutorial"></a>In Buildroot, a virtual package is a package whose functionalities are
provided by one or more packages, referred to as <span class="emphasis"><em>providers</em></span>. The virtual
package management is an extensible mechanism allowing the user to choose
the provider used in the rootfs.</p><p>For example, <span class="emphasis"><em>OpenGL ES</em></span> is an API for 2D and 3D graphics on embedded systems.
The implementation of this API is different for the <span class="emphasis"><em>Allwinner Tech Sunxi</em></span> and
the <span class="emphasis"><em>Texas Instruments OMAP35xx</em></span> platforms. So <code class="literal">libgles</code> will be a virtual
package and <code class="literal">sunxi-mali-utgard</code> and <code class="literal">ti-gfx</code> will be the providers.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_virtual_package_literal_tutorial"></a>18.12.1. <code class="literal">virtual-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>In the following example, we will explain how to add a new virtual package
(<span class="emphasis"><em>something-virtual</em></span>) and a provider for it (<span class="emphasis"><em>some-provider</em></span>).</p><p>First, let’s create the virtual package.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_virtual_package_8217_s_literal_config_in_literal_file"></a>18.12.2. Virtual package’s <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file of virtual package <span class="emphasis"><em>something-virtual</em></span> should contain:</p><pre class="screen">01: config BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL
02:     bool
03:
04: config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL
05:     depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL
06:     string</pre><p>In this file, we declare two options, <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL</code> and
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL</code>, whose values will be used by the
providers.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_virtual_package_8217_s_literal_mk_literal_file"></a>18.12.3. Virtual package’s <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">.mk</code> for the virtual package should just evaluate the <code class="literal">virtual-package</code> macro:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # something-virtual
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: $(eval $(virtual-package))</pre><p>The ability to have target and host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-virtual-package</code> macro.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_provider_8217_s_literal_config_in_literal_file"></a>18.12.4. Provider’s <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>When adding a package as a provider, only the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file requires some
modifications.</p><p>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file of the package <span class="emphasis"><em>some-provider</em></span>, which provides the
functionalities of <span class="emphasis"><em>something-virtual</em></span>, should contain:</p><pre class="screen">01: config BR2_PACKAGE_SOME_PROVIDER
02:     bool "some-provider"
03:     select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL
04:     help
05:       This is a comment that explains what some-provider is.
06:
07:       http://foosoftware.org/some-provider/
08:
09: if BR2_PACKAGE_SOME_PROVIDER
10: config BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL
11:     default "some-provider"
12: endif</pre><p>On line 3, we select <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL</code>, and on line 11, we
set the value of <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_PROVIDES_SOMETHING_VIRTUAL</code> to the name of the
provider, but only if it is selected.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_provider_8217_s_literal_mk_literal_file"></a>18.12.5. Provider’s <code class="literal">.mk</code> file</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">.mk</code> file should also declare an additional variable
<code class="literal">SOME_PROVIDER_PROVIDES</code> to contain the names of all the virtual
packages it is an implementation of:</p><pre class="screen">01: SOME_PROVIDER_PROVIDES = something-virtual</pre><p>Of course, do not forget to add the proper build and runtime dependencies for
this package!</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_notes_on_depending_on_a_virtual_package"></a>18.12.6. Notes on depending on a virtual package</h3></div></div></div><p>When adding a package that requires a certain <code class="literal">FEATURE</code> provided by a virtual
package, you have to use <code class="literal">depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE</code>, like so:</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE
    bool

config BR2_PACKAGE_FOO
    bool "foo"
    depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_notes_on_depending_on_a_specific_provider"></a>18.12.7. Notes on depending on a specific provider</h3></div></div></div><p>If your package really requires a specific provider, then you’ll have to
make your package <code class="literal">depends on</code> this provider; you can <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> <code class="literal">select</code> a
provider.</p><p>Let’s take an example with two providers for a <code class="literal">FEATURE</code>:</p><pre class="screen">config BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE
    bool

config BR2_PACKAGE_FOO
    bool "foo"
    select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE

config BR2_PACKAGE_BAR
    bool "bar"
    select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_FEATURE</pre><p>And you are adding a package that needs <code class="literal">FEATURE</code> as provided by <code class="literal">foo</code>,
but not as provided by <code class="literal">bar</code>.</p><p>If you were to use <code class="literal">select BR2_PACKAGE_FOO</code>, then the user would still
be able to select <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_BAR</code> in the menuconfig. This would create
a configuration inconsistency, whereby two providers of the same <code class="literal">FEATURE</code>
would be enabled at once, one explicitly set by the user, the other
implicitly by your <code class="literal">select</code>.</p><p>Instead, you have to use <code class="literal">depends on BR2_PACKAGE_FOO</code>, which avoids any
implicit configuration inconsistency.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_packages_using_kconfig_for_configuration_files"></a>18.13. Infrastructure for packages using kconfig for configuration files</h2></div></div></div><p>A popular way for a software package to handle user-specified
configuration is <code class="literal">kconfig</code>. Among others, it is used by the Linux
kernel, Busybox, and Buildroot itself. The presence of a .config file
and a <code class="literal">menuconfig</code> target are two well-known symptoms of kconfig being
used.</p><p>Buildroot features an infrastructure for packages that use kconfig for
their configuration. This infrastructure provides the necessary logic to
expose the package’s <code class="literal">menuconfig</code> target as <code class="literal">foo-menuconfig</code> in
Buildroot, and to handle the copying back and forth of the configuration
file in a correct way.</p><p>The main macro of the kconfig package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">kconfig-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the kconfig infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">kconfig-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the kconfig infrastructure.</p><p>In order to use the <code class="literal">kconfig-package</code> infrastructure for a Buildroot
package, the minimally required lines in the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file, in addition to
the variables required by the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> infrastructure, are:</p><pre class="screen">FOO_KCONFIG_FILE = reference-to-source-configuration-file

$(eval $(kconfig-package))</pre><p>This snippet creates the following make targets:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">foo-menuconfig</code>, which calls the package’s <code class="literal">menuconfig</code> target
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">foo-update-config</code>, which copies the configuration back to the
  source configuration file. It is not possible to use this target
  when fragment files are set.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">foo-update-defconfig</code>, which copies the configuration back to the
  source configuration file. The configuration file will only list the
  options that differ from the default values. It is not possible to
  use this target when fragment files are set.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">foo-diff-config</code>, which outputs the differences between the current
  configuration and the one defined in the Buildroot configuration for
  this kconfig package. The output is useful to identify the
  configuration changes that may have to be propagated to
  configuration fragments for example.
</li></ul></div><p>and ensures that the source configuration file is copied to the build
directory at the right moment.</p><p>There are two options to specify a configuration file to use, either
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_FILE</code> (as in the example, above) or <code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_DEFCONFIG</code>.
It is mandatory to provide either, but not both:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_FILE</code> specifies the path to a defconfig or full-config file
  to be used to configure the package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_DEFCONFIG</code> specifies the defconfig <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> rule to call to
  configure the package.
</li></ul></div><p>In addition to these minimally required lines, several optional variables can
be set to suit the needs of the package under consideration:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_EDITORS</code>: a space-separated list of kconfig editors to
  support, for example <span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig xconfig</em></span>. By default, <span class="emphasis"><em>menuconfig</em></span>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_FRAGMENT_FILES</code>: a space-separated list of configuration
  fragment files that are merged to the main configuration file.
  Fragment files are typically used when there is a desire to stay in sync
  with an upstream (def)config file, with some minor modifications.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_OPTS</code>: extra options to pass when calling the kconfig
  editors. This may need to include <span class="emphasis"><em>$(FOO_MAKE_OPTS)</em></span>, for example. By
  default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_FIXUP_CMDS</code>: a list of shell commands needed to fixup the
  configuration file after copying it or running a kconfig editor. Such
  commands may be needed to ensure a configuration consistent with other
  configuration of Buildroot, for example. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_DOTCONFIG</code>: path (with filename) of the <code class="literal">.config</code> file,
  relative to the package source tree. The default, <code class="literal">.config</code>, should
  be well suited for all packages that use the standard kconfig
  infrastructure as inherited from the Linux kernel; some packages use
  a derivative of kconfig that use a different location.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_DEPENDENCIES</code>: the list of packages (most probably, host
  packages) that need to be built before this package’s kconfig is
  interpreted. Seldom used. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_KCONFIG_SUPPORTS_DEFCONFIG</code>: whether the package’s kconfig system
  supports using defconfig files; few packages do not. By default, <span class="emphasis"><em>YES</em></span>.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_rebar_based_packages"></a>18.14. Infrastructure for rebar-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="rebar-package-tutorial"></a>18.14.1. <code class="literal">rebar-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a rebar-based package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # erlang-foobar
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: ERLANG_FOOBAR_VERSION = 1.0
08: ERLANG_FOOBAR_SOURCE = erlang-foobar-$(ERLANG_FOOBAR_VERSION).tar.xz
09: ERLANG_FOOBAR_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: ERLANG_FOOBAR_DEPENDENCIES = host-libaaa libbbb
11:
12: $(eval $(rebar-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball
recommended) and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot
will automatically download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.</p><p>Finally, on line 12, we invoke the <code class="literal">rebar-package</code> macro that
generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the package to
be built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="rebar-package-reference"></a>18.14.2. <code class="literal">rebar-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the <code class="literal">rebar</code> package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">rebar-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The
ability to have host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-rebar-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the <code class="literal">rebar</code> infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">rebar-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the <code class="literal">rebar</code> infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the <code class="literal">rebar</code> infrastructure,
can also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific
cases, typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_USE_AUTOCONF</code>, to specify that the package uses
  <span class="emphasis"><em>autoconf</em></span> at the configuration step.  When a package sets this
  variable to <code class="literal">YES</code>, the <code class="literal">autotools</code> infrastructure is used.
</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>You can also use some of the variables from the <code class="literal">autotools</code>
  infrastructure: <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_CONF_ENV</code>, <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_CONF_OPTS</code>,
  <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_AUTORECONF</code>, <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_AUTORECONF_ENV</code> and
  <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_AUTORECONF_OPTS</code>.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_USE_BUNDLED_REBAR</code>, to specify that the package has
  a bundled version of <span class="emphasis"><em>rebar</em></span> <span class="strong"><strong>and</strong></span> that it shall be used. Valid
  values are <code class="literal">YES</code> or <code class="literal">NO</code> (the default).
</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>If the package bundles a <span class="emphasis"><em>rebar</em></span> utility, but can use the generic
  one that Buildroot provides, just say <code class="literal">NO</code> (i.e., do not specify
  this variable). Only set if it is mandatory to use the <span class="emphasis"><em>rebar</em></span>
  utility bundled in this package.</p></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_REBAR_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment
  variables to pass to the <span class="emphasis"><em>rebar</em></span> utility.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_KEEP_DEPENDENCIES</code>, to keep the dependencies
  described in the rebar.config file. Valid values are <code class="literal">YES</code> or <code class="literal">NO</code>
  (the default). Unless this variable is set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, the <span class="emphasis"><em>rebar</em></span>
  infrastructure removes such dependencies in a post-patch hook to
  ensure rebar does not download nor compile them.
</li></ul></div><p>With the rebar infrastructure, all the steps required to build
and install the packages are already defined, and they generally work
well for most rebar-based packages. However, when required, it is
still possible to customize what is done in any particular step:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch, configure,
  build or install). See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the rebar
  infrastructure is used, if the package <code class="literal">.mk</code> file defines its
  own <code class="literal">ERLANG_FOOBAR_BUILD_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used instead
  of the default rebar one. However, using this method should be
  restricted to very specific cases. Do not use it in the general
  case.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_waf_based_packages"></a>18.15. Infrastructure for Waf-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="waf-package-tutorial"></a>18.15.1. <code class="literal">waf-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a Waf-based package, with
an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # libfoo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS = --enable-bar --disable-baz
11: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = bar
12:
13: $(eval $(waf-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball
recommended) and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot
will automatically download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we tell Buildroot what options to enable for libfoo.</p><p>On line 11, we tell Buildroot the dependencies of libfoo.</p><p>Finally, on line line 13, we invoke the <code class="literal">waf-package</code>
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
package to be built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="waf-package-reference"></a>18.15.2. <code class="literal">waf-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the Waf package infrastructure is <code class="literal">waf-package</code>.
It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Waf infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">waf-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Waf infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Waf infrastructure, can
also be defined.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the
  package that contains the main wscript file. This is useful,
  if for example, the main wscript file is not at the root of
  the tree extracted by the tarball. If <code class="literal">HOST_LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> is not
  specified, it defaults to <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_NEEDS_EXTERNAL_WAF</code> can be set to <code class="literal">YES</code> or <code class="literal">NO</code> to tell
  Buildroot to use the bundled <code class="literal">waf</code> executable. If set to <code class="literal">NO</code>, the
  default, then Buildroot will use the waf executable provided in the
  package source tree; if set to <code class="literal">YES</code>, then Buildroot will download,
  install waf as a host tool and use it to build the package.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_WAF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to the
  <code class="literal">waf</code> script at every step of the package build process: configure,
  build and installation. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to the
  <code class="literal">waf</code> script for the configuration step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_BUILD_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to the
  <code class="literal">waf</code> script during the build step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass
  to the <code class="literal">waf</code> script during the staging installation step.  By default,
  empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass
  to the <code class="literal">waf</code> script during the target installation step.  By default,
  empty.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_meson_based_packages"></a>18.16. Infrastructure for Meson-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="meson-package-tutorial"></a>18.16.1. <code class="literal">meson-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p><a class="ulink" href="http://mesonbuild.com" target="_top">Meson</a> is an open source build system meant to be both
extremely fast, and, even more importantly, as user friendly as possible. It
uses <a class="ulink" href="https://ninja-build.org" target="_top">Ninja</a> as a companion tool to perform the actual
build operations.</p><p>Let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a Meson-based package, with an example:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: FOO_SOURCE = foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: FOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: FOO_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
11: FOO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
12: FOO_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
13:
14: FOO_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf bar
15:
16: ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BAZ),y)
17: FOO_CONF_OPTS += -Dbaz=true
18: FOO_DEPENDENCIES += baz
19: else
20: FOO_CONF_OPTS += -Dbaz=false
21: endif
22:
23: $(eval $(meson-package))</pre><p>The Makefile starts with the definition of the standard variables for package
declaration (lines 7 to 11).</p><p>On line line 23, we invoke the <code class="literal">meson-package</code> macro that generates all the
Makefile rules that actually allows the package to be built.</p><p>In the example, <code class="literal">host-pkgconf</code> and <code class="literal">bar</code> are declared as dependencies in
<code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> at line 14 because the Meson build file of <code class="literal">foo</code> uses
<code class="literal">pkg-config</code> to determine the compilation flags and libraries of package <code class="literal">bar</code>.</p><p>Note that it is not necessary to add <code class="literal">host-meson</code> in the <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code>
variable of a package, since this basic dependency is automatically added as
needed by the Meson package infrastructure.</p><p>If the "baz" package is selected, then support for the "baz" feature in "foo" is
activated by adding <code class="literal">-Dbaz=true</code> to <code class="literal">FOO_CONF_OPTS</code> at line 17, as specified in
the <code class="literal">meson_options.txt</code> file in "foo" source tree. The "baz" package is also
added to <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code>. Note that the support for <code class="literal">baz</code> is explicitly
disabled at line 20, if the package is not selected.</p><p>To sum it up, to add a new meson-based package, the Makefile example can be
copied verbatim then edited to replace all occurrences of <code class="literal">FOO</code> with the
uppercase name of the new package and update the values of the standard
variables.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="meson-package-reference"></a>18.16.2. <code class="literal">meson-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the Meson package infrastructure is <code class="literal">meson-package</code>. It is
similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The ability to have target and host
packages is also available, with the <code class="literal">host-meson-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Meson infrastructure works by defining
a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">meson-package</code> macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Meson infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Meson infrastructure, can also be
defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific cases, typical packages
will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the
  package that contains the main meson.build file. This is useful,
  if for example, the main meson.build file is not at the root of
  the tree extracted by the tarball. If <code class="literal">HOST_FOO_SUBDIR</code> is not
  specified, it defaults to <code class="literal">FOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to pass to
  <code class="literal">meson</code> for the configuration step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to <code class="literal">meson</code> for the
  configuration step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CFLAGS</code>, to specify compiler arguments added to the package specific
  <code class="literal">cross-compile.conf</code> file <code class="literal">c_args</code> property. By default, the value of
  <code class="literal">TARGET_CFLAGS</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CXXFLAGS</code>, to specify compiler arguments added to the package specific
  <code class="literal">cross-compile.conf</code> file <code class="literal">cpp_args</code> property. By default, the value of
  <code class="literal">TARGET_CXXFLAGS</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_LDFLAGS</code>, to specify compiler arguments added to the package specific
  <code class="literal">cross-compile.conf</code> file <code class="literal">c_link_args</code> and <code class="literal">cpp_link_args</code> properties. By
  default, the value of <code class="literal">TARGET_LDFLAGS</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_MESON_EXTRA_BINARIES</code>, to specify a space-separated list of programs
  to add to the <code class="literal">[binaries]</code> section of the meson <code class="literal">cross-compilation.conf</code>
  configuration file. The format is <code class="literal">program-name='/path/to/program'</code>, with
  no space around the <code class="literal">=</code> sign, and with the path of the program between
  single quotes. By default, empty. Note that Buildroot already sets the
  correct values for <code class="literal">c</code>, <code class="literal">cpp</code>, <code class="literal">ar</code>, <code class="literal">strip</code>, and <code class="literal">pkgconfig</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_MESON_EXTRA_PROPERTIES</code>, to specify a space-separated list of
  properties to add to the <code class="literal">[properties]</code> section of the meson
  <code class="literal">cross-compilation.conf</code> configuration file. The format is
  <code class="literal">property-name=&lt;value&gt;</code> with no space around the <code class="literal">=</code> sign, and with
  single quotes around string values. By default, empty. Note that
  Buildroot already sets values for <code class="literal">needs_exe_wrapper</code>, <code class="literal">c_args</code>,
  <code class="literal">c_link_args</code>, <code class="literal">cpp_args</code>, <code class="literal">cpp_link_args</code>, <code class="literal">sys_root</code>, and
  <code class="literal">pkg_config_libdir</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_NINJA_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to pass to
  <code class="literal">ninja</code>, meson companion tool in charge of the build operations. By default,
  empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_NINJA_OPTS</code>, to specify a space-separated list of targets to build. By
  default, empty, to build the default target(s).
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_cargo_based_packages"></a>18.17. Infrastructure for Cargo-based packages</h2></div></div></div><p>Cargo is the package manager for the Rust programming language. It allows the
user to build programs or libraries written in Rust, but it also downloads and
manages their dependencies, to ensure repeatable builds. Cargo packages are
called "crates".</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="cargo-package-tutorial"></a>18.17.1. <code class="literal">cargo-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file of Cargo-based package <span class="emphasis"><em>foo</em></span> should contain:</p><pre class="screen">01: config BR2_PACKAGE_FOO
02:     bool "foo"
03:     depends on BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_RUSTC_TARGET_ARCH_SUPPORTS
04:     select BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_RUSTC
05:     help
06:       This is a comment that explains what foo is.
07:
08:       http://foosoftware.org/foo/</pre><p>And the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for this package should contain:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: FOO_SOURCE = foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: FOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: FOO_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
11: FOO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
12:
13: $(eval $(cargo-package))</pre><p>The Makefile starts with the definition of the standard variables for
package declaration (lines 7 to 11).</p><p>As seen in line 13, it is based on the <code class="literal">cargo-package</code>
infrastructure. Cargo will be invoked automatically by this
infrastructure to build and install the package.</p><p>It is still possible to define custom build commands or install
commands (i.e.  with FOO_BUILD_CMDS and FOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS).
Those will then replace the commands from the cargo infrastructure.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_cargo_package_literal_reference"></a>18.17.2. <code class="literal">cargo-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macros for the Cargo package infrastructure are
<code class="literal">cargo-package</code> for target packages and <code class="literal">host-cargo-package</code> for host
packages.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Cargo infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">cargo-package</code>
or <code class="literal">host-cargo-package</code> macros.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Cargo infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Cargo infrastructure, can
also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific cases,
typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the package
  that contains the Cargo.toml file. This is useful, if for example, it
  is not at the root of the tree extracted by the tarball. If
  <code class="literal">HOST_FOO_SUBDIR</code> is not specified, it defaults to <code class="literal">FOO_SUBDIR</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CARGO_ENV</code> can be used to pass additional variables in the
  environment of <code class="literal">cargo</code> invocations. It used at both build and
  installation time
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CARGO_BUILD_OPTS</code> can be used to pass additional options to
  <code class="literal">cargo</code> at build time.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CARGO_INSTALL_OPTS</code> can be used to pass additional options to
  <code class="literal">cargo</code> at install time.
</li></ul></div><p>A crate can depend on other libraries from crates.io or git
repositories, listed in its <code class="literal">Cargo.toml</code> file. Buildroot automatically
takes care of downloading such dependencies as part of the download
step of packages that use the <code class="literal">cargo-package</code> infrastructure. Such
dependencies are then kept together with the package source code in
the tarball cached in Buildroot’s <code class="literal">DL_DIR</code>, and therefore the hash of
the package’s tarball includes such dependencies.</p><p>This mechanism ensures that any change in the dependencies will be
detected, and allows the build to be performed completely offline.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_go_packages"></a>18.18. Infrastructure for Go packages</h2></div></div></div><p>This infrastructure applies to Go packages that use the standard
build system and use bundled dependencies.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="golang-package-tutorial"></a>18.18.1. <code class="literal">golang-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a go package,
with an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: FOO_SITE = $(call github,bar,foo,$(FOO_VERSION))
09: FOO_LICENSE = BSD-3-Clause
10: FOO_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
11:
12: $(eval $(golang-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8, we declare the upstream location of the package, here
fetched from Github, since a large number of Go packages are hosted on
Github.</p><p>On line 9 and 10, we give licensing details about the package.</p><p>Finally, on line 12, we invoke the <code class="literal">golang-package</code> macro that
generates all the Makefile rules that actually allow the package to be
built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="golang-package-reference"></a>18.18.2. <code class="literal">golang-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>In their <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file, packages using the <code class="literal">golang-package</code>
infrastructure should depend on <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_GO_TARGET_ARCH_SUPPORTS</code>
because Buildroot will automatically add a dependency on <code class="literal">host-go</code>
to such packages.
If you need CGO support in your package, you must add a dependency on
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_GO_TARGET_CGO_LINKING_SUPPORTS</code>.</p><p>The main macro of the Go package infrastructure is
<code class="literal">golang-package</code>. It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro. The
ability to build host packages is also available, with the
<code class="literal">host-golang-package</code> macro.
Host packages built by <code class="literal">host-golang-package</code> macro should depend on
<code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_GO_HOST_ARCH_SUPPORTS</code>.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the Go infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">golang-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the Go infrastructure.</p><p>Note that it is not necessary to add <code class="literal">host-go</code> in the
<code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> variable of a package, since this basic dependency
is automatically added as needed by the Go package infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the Go infrastructure, can
optionally be defined, depending on the package’s needs. Many of them
are only useful in very specific cases, typical packages will
therefore only use a few of them, or none.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The package must specify its Go module name in the <code class="literal">FOO_GOMOD</code>
  variable. If not specified, it defaults to
  <code class="literal">URL-domain/1st-part-of-URL/2nd-part-of-URL</code>, e.g <code class="literal">FOO_GOMOD</code> will
  take the value <code class="literal">github.com/bar/foo</code> for a package that specifies
  <code class="literal">FOO_SITE = $(call github,bar,foo,$(FOO_VERSION))</code>. The Go package
  infrastructure will automatically generate a minimal <code class="literal">go.mod</code> file
  in the package source tree if it doesn’t exist.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_LDFLAGS</code> and <code class="literal">FOO_TAGS</code> can be used to pass respectively the
  <code class="literal">LDFLAGS</code> or the <code class="literal">TAGS</code> to the <code class="literal">go</code> build command.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_TARGETS</code> can be used to pass the list of targets that
  should be built. If <code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_TARGETS</code> is not specified, it
  defaults to <code class="literal">.</code>. We then have two cases:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_TARGETS</code> is <code class="literal">.</code>. In this case, we assume only one binary
   will be produced, and that by default we name it after the package
   name. If that is not appropriate, the name of the produced binary
   can be overridden using <code class="literal">FOO_BIN_NAME</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_TARGETS</code> is not <code class="literal">.</code>. In this case, we iterate over the
   values to build each target, and for each produced a binary that is
   the non-directory component of the target. For example if
   <code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_TARGETS = cmd/docker cmd/dockerd</code> the binaries produced
   are <code class="literal">docker</code> and <code class="literal">dockerd</code>.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_INSTALL_BINS</code> can be used to pass the list of binaries that
  should be installed in <code class="literal">/usr/bin</code> on the target. If
  <code class="literal">FOO_INSTALL_BINS</code> is not specified, it defaults to the lower-case
  name of package.
</li></ul></div><p>With the Go infrastructure, all the steps required to build and
install the packages are already defined, and they generally work well
for most Go-based packages. However, when required, it is still
possible to customize what is done in any particular step:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch, configure,
  build or install). See <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the Go
  infrastructure is used, if the package <code class="literal">.mk</code> file defines its own
  <code class="literal">FOO_BUILD_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used instead of the default Go
  one. However, using this method should be restricted to very
  specific cases. Do not use it in the general case.
</li></ul></div><p>A Go package can depend on other Go modules, listed in its <code class="literal">go.mod</code>
file. Buildroot automatically takes care of downloading such
dependencies as part of the download step of packages that use the
<code class="literal">golang-package</code> infrastructure. Such dependencies are then kept
together with the package source code in the tarball cached in
Buildroot’s <code class="literal">DL_DIR</code>, and therefore the hash of the package’s tarball
includes such dependencies.</p><p>This mechanism ensures that any change in the dependencies will be
detected, and allows the build to be performed completely offline.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_qmake_based_packages"></a>18.19. Infrastructure for QMake-based packages</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="qmake-package-tutorial"></a>18.19.1. <code class="literal">qmake-package</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>First, let’s see how to write a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file for a QMake-based package, with
an example :</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # libfoo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LIBFOO_VERSION = 1.0
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS = QT_CONFIG+=bar QT_CONFIG-=baz
11: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = bar
12:
13: $(eval $(qmake-package))</pre><p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package.</p><p>On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball
recommended) and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot
will automatically download the tarball from this location.</p><p>On line 10, we tell Buildroot what options to enable for libfoo.</p><p>On line 11, we tell Buildroot the dependencies of libfoo.</p><p>Finally, on line line 13, we invoke the <code class="literal">qmake-package</code>
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
package to be built.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="qmake-package-reference"></a>18.19.2. <code class="literal">qmake-package</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro of the QMake package infrastructure is <code class="literal">qmake-package</code>.
It is similar to the <code class="literal">generic-package</code> macro.</p><p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the QMake infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the <code class="literal">qmake-package</code>
macro.</p><p>All the package metadata information variables that exist in the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">generic package infrastructure</a> also
exist in the QMake infrastructure.</p><p>A few additional variables, specific to the QMake infrastructure, can
also be defined.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to
  pass to the <code class="literal">qmake</code> script for the configuration step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS</code>, to specify additional options to pass to the
  <code class="literal">qmake</code> script for the configuration step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_ENV</code>, to specify additional environment variables to the
  <code class="literal">make</code> command during the build and install steps. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_MAKE_OPTS</code>, to specify additional targets to pass to the
  <code class="literal">make</code> command during the build step. By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPTS</code>, to specify additional targets to pass
  to the <code class="literal">make</code> command during the staging installation step. By default,
  <code class="literal">install</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPTS</code>, to specify additional targets to pass
  to the <code class="literal">make</code> command during the target installation step. By default,
  <code class="literal">install</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_SYNC_QT_HEADERS</code>, to run syncqt.pl before qmake. Some packages
  need this to have a properly populated include directory before
  running the build.
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_packages_building_kernel_modules"></a>18.20. Infrastructure for packages building kernel modules</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot offers a helper infrastructure to make it easy to write packages that
build and install Linux kernel modules. Some packages only contain a kernel
module, other packages contain programs and libraries in addition to kernel
modules. Buildroot’s helper infrastructure supports either case.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="kernel-module-tutorial"></a>18.20.1. <code class="literal">kernel-module</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>Let’s start with an example on how to prepare a simple package that only
builds a kernel module, and no other component:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_VERSION = 1.2.3
08: FOO_SOURCE = foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.xz
09: FOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: FOO_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
11: FOO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
12:
13: $(eval $(kernel-module))
14: $(eval $(generic-package))</pre><p>Lines 7-11 define the usual meta-data to specify the version, archive name,
remote URI where to find the package source, licensing information.</p><p>On line 13, we invoke the <code class="literal">kernel-module</code> helper infrastructure, that
generates all the appropriate Makefile rules and variables to build
that kernel module.</p><p>Finally, on line 14, we invoke the
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-tutorial" title="18.6.1. generic-package tutorial"><code class="literal">generic-package</code> infrastructure</a>.</p><p>The dependency on <code class="literal">linux</code> is automatically added, so it is not needed to
specify it in <code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code>.</p><p>What you may have noticed is that, unlike other package infrastructures,
we explicitly invoke a second infrastructure. This allows a package to
build a kernel module, but also, if needed, use any one of other package
infrastructures to build normal userland components (libraries,
executables…). Using the <code class="literal">kernel-module</code> infrastructure on its own is
not sufficient; another package infrastructure <span class="strong"><strong>must</strong></span> be used.</p><p>Let’s look at a more complex example:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_VERSION = 1.2.3
08: FOO_SOURCE = foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.xz
09: FOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: FOO_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
11: FOO_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
12:
13: FOO_MODULE_SUBDIRS = driver/base
14: FOO_MODULE_MAKE_OPTS = KVERSION=$(LINUX_VERSION_PROBED)
15:
16: ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBBAR),y)
17: FOO_DEPENDENCIES += libbar
18: FOO_CONF_OPTS += --enable-bar
19: FOO_MODULE_SUBDIRS += driver/bar
20: else
21: FOO_CONF_OPTS += --disable-bar
22: endif
23:
24: $(eval $(kernel-module))
26: $(eval $(autotools-package))</pre><p>Here, we see that we have an autotools-based package, that also builds
the kernel module located in sub-directory <code class="literal">driver/base</code> and, if libbar
is enabled, the kernel module located in sub-directory <code class="literal">driver/bar</code>, and
defines the variable <code class="literal">KVERSION</code> to be passed to the Linux buildsystem
when building the module(s).</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="kernel-module-reference"></a>18.20.2. <code class="literal">kernel-module</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The main macro for the  kernel module infrastructure is <code class="literal">kernel-module</code>.
Unlike other package infrastructures, it is not stand-alone, and requires
any of the other <code class="literal">*-package</code> macros be called after it.</p><p>The <code class="literal">kernel-module</code> macro defines post-build and post-target-install
hooks to build the kernel modules. If the package’s <code class="literal">.mk</code> needs access
to the built kernel modules, it should do so in a post-build hook,
<span class="strong"><strong>registered after</strong></span> the call to <code class="literal">kernel-module</code>. Similarly, if the
package’s <code class="literal">.mk</code> needs access to the kernel module after it has been
installed, it should do so in a post-install hook, <span class="strong"><strong>registered after</strong></span>
the call to <code class="literal">kernel-module</code>. Here’s an example:</p><pre class="screen">$(eval $(kernel-module))

define FOO_DO_STUFF_WITH_KERNEL_MODULE
    # Do something with it...
endef
FOO_POST_BUILD_HOOKS += FOO_DO_STUFF_WITH_KERNEL_MODULE

$(eval $(generic-package))</pre><p>Finally, unlike the other package infrastructures, there is no
<code class="literal">host-kernel-module</code> variant to build a host kernel module.</p><p>The following additional variables can optionally be defined to further
configure the build of the kernel module:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_MODULE_SUBDIRS</code> may be set to one or more sub-directories (relative
  to the package source top-directory) where the kernel module sources are.
  If empty or not set, the sources for the kernel module(s) are considered
  to be located at the top of the package source tree.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_MODULE_MAKE_OPTS</code> may be set to contain extra variable definitions
  to pass to the Linux buildsystem.
</li></ul></div><p><a id="kernel-variables"></a>You may also reference (but you may <span class="strong"><strong>not</strong></span> set!) those variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LINUX_DIR</code> contains the path to where the Linux kernel has been
   extracted and built.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LINUX_VERSION</code> contains the version string as configured by the user.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LINUX_VERSION_PROBED</code> contains the real version string of the kernel,
   retrieved with running <code class="literal">make -C $(LINUX_DIR) kernelrelease</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">KERNEL_ARCH</code> contains the name of the current architecture, like <code class="literal">arm</code>,
   <code class="literal">mips</code>…
</li></ul></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_infrastructure_for_asciidoc_documents"></a>18.21. Infrastructure for asciidoc documents</h2></div></div></div><p><a id="asciidoc-documents-tutorial"></a>The Buildroot manual, which you are currently reading, is entirely written
using the <a class="ulink" href="http://asciidoc.org/" target="_top">AsciiDoc</a> mark-up syntax. The manual is then
rendered to many formats:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
html
</li><li class="listitem">
split-html
</li><li class="listitem">
pdf
</li><li class="listitem">
epub
</li><li class="listitem">
text
</li></ul></div><p>Although Buildroot only contains one document written in AsciiDoc, there
is, as for packages, an infrastructure for rendering documents using the
AsciiDoc syntax.</p><p>Also as for packages, the AsciiDoc infrastructure is available from a
<a class="link" href="#outside-br-custom" title="9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot">br2-external tree</a>. This allows documentation for
a br2-external tree to match the Buildroot documentation, as it will be
rendered to the same formats and use the same layout and theme.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_asciidoc_document_literal_tutorial"></a>18.21.1. <code class="literal">asciidoc-document</code> tutorial</h3></div></div></div><p>Whereas package infrastructures are suffixed with <code class="literal">-package</code>, the document
infrastructures are suffixed with <code class="literal">-document</code>. So, the AsciiDoc infrastructure
is named <code class="literal">asciidoc-document</code>.</p><p>Here is an example to render a simple AsciiDoc document.</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo-document
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_SOURCES = $(sort $(wildcard $(FOO_DOCDIR)/*))
08: $(eval $(call asciidoc-document))</pre><p>On line 7, the Makefile declares what the sources of the document are.
Currently, it is expected that the document’s sources are only local;
Buildroot will not attempt to download anything to render a document.
Thus, you must indicate where the sources are. Usually, the string
above is sufficient for a document with no sub-directory structure.</p><p>On line 8, we call the <code class="literal">asciidoc-document</code> function, which generates all
the Makefile code necessary to render the document.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_literal_asciidoc_document_literal_reference"></a>18.21.2. <code class="literal">asciidoc-document</code> reference</h3></div></div></div><p>The list of variables that can be set in a <code class="literal">.mk</code> file to give metadata
information is (assuming the document name is <code class="literal">foo</code>) :</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_SOURCES</code>, mandatory, defines the source files for the document.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_RESOURCES</code>, optional, may contain a space-separated list of paths
  to one or more directories containing so-called resources (like CSS or
  images). By default, empty.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_DEPENDENCIES</code>, optional, the list of packages (most probably,
  host-packages) that must be built before building this document.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_TOC_DEPTH</code>, <code class="literal">FOO_TOC_DEPTH_&lt;FMT&gt;</code>, optionals, the depth of the
  table of content for this document, which can be overridden for the
  specified format <code class="literal">&lt;FMT&gt;</code>  (see the list of rendered formats, above,
  but in uppercase, and with dash replaced by underscore; see example,
  below). By default: <code class="literal">1</code>.
</li></ul></div><p>There are also additional hooks (see <a class="xref" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">Section 18.23, “Hooks available in the various build steps”</a> for general information
on hooks), that a document may set to define extra actions to be done at
various steps:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_POST_RSYNC_HOOKS</code> to run additional commands after the sources
  have been copied by Buildroot. This can for example be used to
  generate part of the manual with information extracted from the
  tree. As an example, Buildroot uses this hook to generate the tables
  in the appendices.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CHECK_DEPENDENCIES_HOOKS</code> to run additional tests on required
  components to generate the document. In AsciiDoc, it is possible to
  call filters, that is, programs that will parse an AsciiDoc block and
  render it appropriately (e.g. <a class="ulink" href="http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/" target="_top">ditaa</a> or
  <a class="ulink" href="https://pythonhosted.org/aafigure/" target="_top">aafigure</a>).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">FOO_CHECK_DEPENDENCIES_&lt;FMT&gt;_HOOKS</code>, to run additional tests for
  the specified format <code class="literal">&lt;FMT&gt;</code> (see the list of rendered formats, above).
</li></ul></div><p>Buildroot sets the following variable that can be used in the definitions
above:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(FOO_DOCDIR)</code>, similar to <code class="literal">$(FOO_PKGDIR)</code>, contains the path to the
  directory containing <code class="literal">foo.mk</code>. It can be used to refer to the document
  sources, and can be used in the hooks, especially the post-rsync hook
  if parts of the documentation needs to be generated.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(@D)</code>, as for traditional packages, contains the path to the directory
  where the document will be copied and built.
</li></ul></div><p>Here is a complete example that uses all variables and all hooks:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo-document
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: FOO_SOURCES = $(sort $(wildcard $(FOO_DOCDIR)/*))
08: FOO_RESOURCES = $(sort $(wildcard $(FOO_DOCDIR)/resources))
09:
10: FOO_TOC_DEPTH = 2
11: FOO_TOC_DEPTH_HTML = 1
12: FOO_TOC_DEPTH_SPLIT_HTML = 3
13:
14: define FOO_GEN_EXTRA_DOC
15:     /path/to/generate-script --outdir=$(@D)
16: endef
17: FOO_POST_RSYNC_HOOKS += FOO_GEN_EXTRA_DOC
18:
19: define FOO_CHECK_MY_PROG
20:     if ! which my-prog &gt;/dev/null 2&gt;&amp;1; then \
21:         echo "You need my-prog to generate the foo document"; \
22:         exit 1; \
23:     fi
24: endef
25: FOO_CHECK_DEPENDENCIES_HOOKS += FOO_CHECK_MY_PROG
26:
27: define FOO_CHECK_MY_OTHER_PROG
28:     if ! which my-other-prog &gt;/dev/null 2&gt;&amp;1; then \
29:         echo "You need my-other-prog to generate the foo document as PDF"; \
30:         exit 1; \
31:     fi
32: endef
33: FOO_CHECK_DEPENDENCIES_PDF_HOOKS += FOO_CHECK_MY_OTHER_PROG
34:
35: $(eval $(call asciidoc-document))</pre></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="linux-kernel-specific-infra"></a>18.22. Infrastructure specific to the Linux kernel package</h2></div></div></div><p>The Linux kernel package can use some specific infrastructures based on package
hooks for building Linux kernel tools or/and building Linux kernel extensions.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="linux-kernel-tools"></a>18.22.1. linux-kernel-tools</h3></div></div></div><p>Buildroot offers a helper infrastructure to build some userspace tools
for the target available within the Linux kernel sources. Since their
source code is part of the kernel source code, a special package,
<code class="literal">linux-tools</code>, exists and re-uses the sources of the Linux kernel that
runs on the target.</p><p>Let’s look at an example of a Linux tool. For a new Linux tool named
<code class="literal">foo</code>, create a new menu entry in the existing
<code class="literal">package/linux-tools/Config.in</code>.  This file will contain the option
descriptions related to each kernel tool that will be used and
displayed in the configuration tool. It would basically look like:</p><pre class="screen">01: config BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_TOOLS_FOO
02:     bool "foo"
03:     select BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_TOOLS
04:     help
05:       This is a comment that explains what foo kernel tool is.
06:
07:       http://foosoftware.org/foo/</pre><p>The name of the option starts with the prefix <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_TOOLS_</code>,
followed by the uppercase name of the tool (like is done for packages).</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>Unlike other packages, the <code class="literal">linux-tools</code> package options appear in the
<code class="literal">linux</code> kernel menu, under the <code class="literal">Linux Kernel Tools</code> sub-menu, not under
the <code class="literal">Target packages</code> main menu.</p><p>Then for each linux tool, add a new <code class="literal">.mk.in</code> file named
<code class="literal">package/linux-tools/linux-tool-foo.mk.in</code>. It would basically look like:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LINUX_TOOLS += foo
08:
09: FOO_DEPENDENCIES = libbbb
10:
11: define FOO_BUILD_CMDS
12:     $(TARGET_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) -C $(LINUX_DIR)/tools foo
13: endef
14:
15: define FOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS
16:     $(TARGET_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) -C $(LINUX_DIR)/tools \
17:             DESTDIR=$(STAGING_DIR) \
18:             foo_install
19: endef
20:
21: define FOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
22:     $(TARGET_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) -C $(LINUX_DIR)/tools \
23:             DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) \
24:             foo_install
25: endef</pre><p>On line 7, we register the Linux tool <code class="literal">foo</code> to the list of available
Linux tools.</p><p>On line 9, we specify the list of dependencies this tool relies on. These
dependencies are added to the Linux package dependencies list only when the
<code class="literal">foo</code> tool is selected.</p><p>The rest of the Makefile, lines 11-25 defines what should be done at the
different steps of the Linux tool build process like for a
<a class="link" href="#generic-package-tutorial" title="18.6.1. generic-package tutorial"><code class="literal">generic package</code></a>. They will actually be
used only when the <code class="literal">foo</code> tool is selected. The only supported commands are
<code class="literal">_BUILD_CMDS</code>, <code class="literal">_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> and <code class="literal">_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code>.</p><p><strong>Note. </strong>One <span class="strong"><strong>must not</strong></span> call <code class="literal">$(eval $(generic-package))</code> or any other
package infrastructure! Linux tools are not packages by themselves,
they are part of the <code class="literal">linux-tools</code> package.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="linux-kernel-ext"></a>18.22.2. linux-kernel-extensions</h3></div></div></div><p>Some packages provide new features that require the Linux kernel tree
to be modified. This can be in the form of patches to be applied on
the kernel tree, or in the form of new files to be added to the
tree. The Buildroot’s Linux kernel extensions infrastructure provides
a simple solution to automatically do this, just after the kernel
sources are extracted and before the kernel patches are
applied. Examples of extensions packaged using this mechanism are the
real-time extensions Xenomai and RTAI, as well as the set of
out-of-tree LCD screens drivers <code class="literal">fbtft</code>.</p><p>Let’s look at an example on how to add a new Linux extension <code class="literal">foo</code>.</p><p>First, create the package <code class="literal">foo</code> that provides the extension: this
package is a standard package; see the previous chapters on how to
create such a package. This package is in charge of downloading the
sources archive, checking the hash, defining the licence information
and building user space tools if any.</p><p>Then create the <span class="emphasis"><em>Linux extension</em></span> proper: create a new menu entry in
the existing <code class="literal">linux/Config.ext.in</code>. This file contains the option
descriptions related to each kernel extension that will be used and
displayed in the configuration tool. It would basically look like:</p><pre class="screen">01: config BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_EXT_FOO
02:     bool "foo"
03:     help
04:       This is a comment that explains what foo kernel extension is.
05:
06:       http://foosoftware.org/foo/</pre><p>Then for each linux extension, add a new <code class="literal">.mk</code> file named
<code class="literal">linux/linux-ext-foo.mk</code>. It should basically contain:</p><pre class="screen">01: ################################################################################
02: #
03: # foo
04: #
05: ################################################################################
06:
07: LINUX_EXTENSIONS += foo
08:
09: define FOO_PREPARE_KERNEL
10:     $(FOO_DIR)/prepare-kernel-tree.sh --linux-dir=$(@D)
11: endef</pre><p>On line 7, we add the Linux extension <code class="literal">foo</code> to the list of available
Linux extensions.</p><p>On line 9-11, we define what should be done by the extension to modify
the Linux kernel tree; this is specific to the linux extension and can
use the variables defined by the <code class="literal">foo</code> package, like: <code class="literal">$(FOO_DIR)</code> or
<code class="literal">$(FOO_VERSION)</code>… as well as all the Linux variables, like:
<code class="literal">$(LINUX_VERSION)</code> or <code class="literal">$(LINUX_VERSION_PROBED)</code>, <code class="literal">$(KERNEL_ARCH)</code>…
See the <a class="link" href="#kernel-variables">definition of those kernel variables</a>.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="hooks"></a>18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps</h2></div></div></div><p>The generic infrastructure (and as a result also the derived autotools
and cmake infrastructures) allow packages to specify hooks.
These define further actions to perform after existing steps.
Most hooks aren’t really useful for generic packages, since the <code class="literal">.mk</code>
file already has full control over the actions performed in each step
of the package construction.</p><p>The following hook points are available:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_DOWNLOAD_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_DOWNLOAD_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_EXTRACT_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_EXTRACT_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_RSYNC_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_RSYNC_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_CONFIGURE_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_CONFIGURE_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_BUILD_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_BUILD_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_INSTALL_HOOKS</code> (for host packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_HOOKS</code> (for host packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_INSTALL_STAGING_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_STAGING_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_INSTALL_IMAGES_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_IMAGES_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_PRE_LEGAL_INFO_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_POST_LEGAL_INFO_HOOKS</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">LIBFOO_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS</code>
</li></ul></div><p>These variables are <span class="emphasis"><em>lists</em></span> of variable names containing actions to be
performed at this hook point. This allows several hooks to be
registered at a given hook point. Here is an example:</p><pre class="screen">define LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_FIXUP
        action1
        action2
endef

LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_HOOKS += LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_FIXUP</pre><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="hooks-rsync"></a>18.23.1. Using the <code class="literal">POST_RSYNC</code> hook</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">POST_RSYNC</code> hook is run only for packages that use a local source,
either through the <code class="literal">local</code> site method or the <code class="literal">OVERRIDE_SRCDIR</code>
mechanism. In this case, package sources are copied using <code class="literal">rsync</code> from
the local location into the buildroot build directory. The <code class="literal">rsync</code>
command does not copy all files from the source directory, though.
Files belonging to a version control system, like the directories
<code class="literal">.git</code>, <code class="literal">.hg</code>, etc. are not copied. For most packages this is
sufficient, but a given package can perform additional actions using
the <code class="literal">POST_RSYNC</code> hook.</p><p>In principle, the hook can contain any command you want. One specific
use case, though, is the intentional copying of the version control
directory using <code class="literal">rsync</code>. The <code class="literal">rsync</code> command you use in the hook can, among
others, use the following variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(SRCDIR)</code>: the path to the overridden source directory
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">$(@D)</code>: the path to the build directory
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_target_finalize_hook"></a>18.23.2. Target-finalize hook</h3></div></div></div><p>Packages may also register hooks in <code class="literal">LIBFOO_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS</code>.
These hooks are run after all packages are built, but before the
filesystem images are generated. They are seldom used, and your
package probably do not need them.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_gettext_integration_and_interaction_with_packages"></a>18.24. Gettext integration and interaction with packages</h2></div></div></div><p>Many packages that support internationalization use the gettext
library. Dependencies for this library are fairly complicated and
therefore, deserve some explanation.</p><p>The <span class="emphasis"><em>glibc</em></span> C library integrates a full-blown implementation of
<span class="emphasis"><em>gettext</em></span>, supporting translation. Native Language Support is
therefore built-in in <span class="emphasis"><em>glibc</em></span>.</p><p>On the other hand, the <span class="emphasis"><em>uClibc</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>musl</em></span> C libraries only provide a
stub implementation of the gettext functionality, which allows to
compile libraries and programs using gettext functions, but without
providing the translation capabilities of a full-blown gettext
implementation. With such C libraries, if real Native Language Support
is necessary, it can be provided by the <code class="literal">libintl</code> library of the
<code class="literal">gettext</code> package.</p><p>Due to this, and in order to make sure that Native Language Support is
properly handled, packages in Buildroot that can use NLS support
should:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
Ensure NLS support is enabled when <code class="literal">BR2_SYSTEM_ENABLE_NLS=y</code>. This
   is done automatically for <span class="emphasis"><em>autotools</em></span> packages and therefore should
   only be done for packages using other package infrastructures.
</li><li class="listitem">
Add <code class="literal">$(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)</code> to the package
   <code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_DEPENDENCIES</code> variable. This addition should be done
   unconditionally: the value of this variable is automatically
   adjusted by the core infrastructure to contain the relevant list of
   packages. If NLS support is disabled, this variable is empty. If
   NLS support is enabled, this variable contains <code class="literal">host-gettext</code> so
   that tools needed to compile translation files are available on the
   host. In addition, if <span class="emphasis"><em>uClibc</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>musl</em></span> are used, this variable
   also contains <code class="literal">gettext</code> in order to get the full-blown <span class="emphasis"><em>gettext</em></span>
   implementation.
</li><li class="listitem">
If needed, add <code class="literal">$(TARGET_NLS_LIBS)</code> to the linker flags, so that
   the package gets linked with <code class="literal">libintl</code>. This is generally not
   needed with <span class="emphasis"><em>autotools</em></span> packages as they usually detect
   automatically that they should link with <code class="literal">libintl</code>. However,
   packages using other build systems, or problematic autotools-based
   packages may need this. <code class="literal">$(TARGET_NLS_LIBS)</code> should be added
   unconditionally to the linker flags, as the core automatically
   makes it empty or defined to <code class="literal">-lintl</code> depending on the
   configuration.
</li></ol></div><p>No changes should be made to the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file to support NLS.</p><p>Finally, certain packages need some gettext utilities on the target,
such as the <code class="literal">gettext</code> program itself, which allows to retrieve
translated strings, from the command line. In such a case, the package
should:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
use <code class="literal">select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT</code> in their <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file,
  indicating in a comment above that it’s a runtime dependency only.
</li><li class="listitem">
not add any <code class="literal">gettext</code> dependency in the <code class="literal">DEPENDENCIES</code> variable of
  their <code class="literal">.mk</code> file.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_tips_and_tricks"></a>18.25. Tips and tricks</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="package-name-variable-relation"></a>18.25.1. Package name, config entry name and makefile variable relationship</h3></div></div></div><p>In Buildroot, there is some relationship between:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
the <span class="emphasis"><em>package name</em></span>, which is the package directory name (and the
  name of the <code class="literal">*.mk</code> file);
</li><li class="listitem">
the config entry name that is declared in the <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file;
</li><li class="listitem">
the makefile variable prefix.
</li></ul></div><p>It is mandatory to maintain consistency between these elements,
using the following rules:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
the package directory and the <code class="literal">*.mk</code> name are the <span class="emphasis"><em>package name</em></span>
  itself (e.g.: <code class="literal">package/foo-bar_boo/foo-bar_boo.mk</code>);
</li><li class="listitem">
the <span class="emphasis"><em>make</em></span> target name is the <span class="emphasis"><em>package name</em></span> itself (e.g.:
  <code class="literal">foo-bar_boo</code>);
</li><li class="listitem">
the config entry is the upper case <span class="emphasis"><em>package name</em></span> with <code class="literal">.</code> and <code class="literal">-</code>
  characters substituted with <code class="literal">_</code>, prefixed with <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_</code> (e.g.:
  <code class="literal">BR2_PACKAGE_FOO_BAR_BOO</code>);
</li><li class="listitem">
the <code class="literal">*.mk</code> file variable prefix is the upper case <span class="emphasis"><em>package name</em></span>
  with <code class="literal">.</code> and <code class="literal">-</code> characters substituted with <code class="literal">_</code> (e.g.:
  <code class="literal">FOO_BAR_BOO_VERSION</code>).
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="check-package"></a>18.25.2. How to check the coding style</h3></div></div></div><p>Buildroot provides a script in <code class="literal">utils/check-package</code> that checks new or
changed files for coding style. It is not a complete language validator,
but it catches many common mistakes. It is meant to run in the actual
files you created or modified, before creating the patch for submission.</p><p>This script can be used for packages, filesystem makefiles, Config.in
files, etc. It does not check the files defining the package
infrastructures and some other files containing similar common code.</p><p>To use it, run the <code class="literal">check-package</code> script, by telling which files you
created or changed:</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/check-package package/new-package/*</pre><p>If you have the <code class="literal">utils</code> directory in your path you can also run:</p><pre class="screen">$ cd package/new-package/
$ check-package *</pre><p>The tool can also be used for packages in a br2-external:</p><pre class="screen">$ check-package -b /path/to/br2-ext-tree/package/my-package/*</pre><p>The <code class="literal">check-package</code> script requires you install <code class="literal">shellcheck</code> and the
Python PyPi packages <code class="literal">flake8</code> and <code class="literal">python-magic</code>. The Buildroot code
base is currently tested against version 0.7.1 of ShellCheck. If you
use a different version of ShellCheck, you may see additional,
unfixed, warnings.</p><p>If you have Docker or Podman you can run <code class="literal">check-package</code> without
installing dependencies:</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/docker-run ./utils/check-package</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="testing-package"></a>18.25.3. How to test your package</h3></div></div></div><p>Once you have added your new package, it is important that you test it
under various conditions: does it build for all architectures? Does it
build with the different C libraries? Does it need threads, NPTL? And
so on…</p><p>Buildroot runs <a class="ulink" href="http://autobuild.buildroot.org/" target="_top">autobuilders</a> which
continuously test random configurations. However, these only build the
<code class="literal">master</code> branch of the git tree, and your new fancy package is not yet
there.</p><p>Buildroot provides a script in <code class="literal">utils/test-pkg</code> that uses the same base
configurations as used by the autobuilders so you can test your package
in the same conditions.</p><p>First, create a config snippet that contains all the necessary options
needed to enable your package, but without any architecture or toolchain
option. For example, let’s create a config snippet that just enables
<code class="literal">libcurl</code>, without any TLS backend:</p><pre class="screen">$ cat libcurl.config
BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCURL=y</pre><p>If your package needs more configuration options, you can add them to the
config snippet. For example, here’s how you would test <code class="literal">libcurl</code> with
<code class="literal">openssl</code> as a TLS backend and the <code class="literal">curl</code> program:</p><pre class="screen">$ cat libcurl.config
BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCURL=y
BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCURL_CURL=y
BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL=y</pre><p>Then run the <code class="literal">test-pkg</code> script, by telling it what config snippet to use
and what package to test:</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/test-pkg -c libcurl.config -p libcurl</pre><p>By default, <code class="literal">test-pkg</code> will build your package against a subset of the
toolchains used by the autobuilders, which has been selected by the
Buildroot developers as being the most useful and representative
subset. If you want to test all toolchains, pass the <code class="literal">-a</code> option. Note
that in any case, internal toolchains are excluded as they take too
long to build.</p><p>The output lists all toolchains that are tested and the corresponding
result (excerpt, results are fake):</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/test-pkg -c libcurl.config -p libcurl
                armv5-ctng-linux-gnueabi [ 1/11]: OK
              armv7-ctng-linux-gnueabihf [ 2/11]: OK
                        br-aarch64-glibc [ 3/11]: SKIPPED
                           br-arcle-hs38 [ 4/11]: SKIPPED
                            br-arm-basic [ 5/11]: FAILED
                  br-arm-cortex-a9-glibc [ 6/11]: OK
                   br-arm-cortex-a9-musl [ 7/11]: FAILED
                   br-arm-cortex-m4-full [ 8/11]: OK
                             br-arm-full [ 9/11]: OK
                    br-arm-full-nothread [10/11]: FAILED
                      br-arm-full-static [11/11]: OK
11 builds, 2 skipped, 2 build failed, 1 legal-info failed</pre><p>The results mean:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">OK</code>: the build was successful.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">SKIPPED</code>: one or more configuration options listed in the config
  snippet were not present in the final configuration. This is due to
  options having dependencies not satisfied by the toolchain, such as
  for example a package that <code class="literal">depends on BR2_USE_MMU</code> with a noMMU
  toolchain. The missing options are reported in <code class="literal">missing.config</code> in
  the output build directory (<code class="literal">~/br-test-pkg/TOOLCHAIN_NAME/</code> by
  default).
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">FAILED</code>: the build failed. Inspect the <code class="literal">logfile</code> file in the output
  build  directory to see what went wrong:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
the actual build failed,
</li><li class="listitem">
the legal-info failed,
</li><li class="listitem">
one of the preliminary steps (downloading the config file, applying
   the configuration, running <code class="literal">dirclean</code> for the package) failed.
</li></ul></div></li></ul></div><p>When there are failures, you can just re-run the script with the same
options (after you fixed your package); the script will attempt to
re-build the package specified with <code class="literal">-p</code> for all toolchains, without
the need to re-build all the dependencies of that package.</p><p>The <code class="literal">test-pkg</code> script accepts a few options, for which you can get some
help by running:</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/test-pkg -h</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="github-download-url"></a>18.25.4. How to add a package from GitHub</h3></div></div></div><p>Packages on GitHub often don’t have a download area with release tarballs.
However, it is possible to download tarballs directly from the repository
on GitHub. As GitHub is known to have changed download mechanisms in the
past, the <span class="emphasis"><em>github</em></span> helper function should be used as shown below.</p><pre class="screen"># Use a tag or a full commit ID
FOO_VERSION = 1.0
FOO_SITE = $(call github,&lt;user&gt;,&lt;package&gt;,v$(FOO_VERSION))</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><p class="title"><strong>Notes</strong></p><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The FOO_VERSION can either be a tag or a commit ID.
</li><li class="listitem">
The tarball name generated by github matches the default one from
  Buildroot (e.g.: <code class="literal">foo-f6fb6654af62045239caed5950bc6c7971965e60.tar.gz</code>),
  so it is not necessary to specify it in the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file.
</li><li class="listitem">
When using a commit ID as version, you should use the full 40 hex characters.
</li><li class="listitem">
When the tag contains a prefix such as <code class="literal">v</code> in <code class="literal">v1.0</code>, then the
  <code class="literal">VERSION</code> variable should contain just <code class="literal">1.0</code>, and the <code class="literal">v</code> should be
  added directly in the <code class="literal">SITE</code> variable, as illustrated above. This
  ensures that the <code class="literal">VERSION</code> variable value can be used to match
  against <a class="ulink" href="http://www.release-monitoring.org/" target="_top">release-monitoring.org</a>
  results.
</li></ul></div><p>If the package you wish to add does have a release section on GitHub, the
maintainer may have uploaded a release tarball, or the release may just point
to the automatically generated tarball from the git tag. If there is a
release tarball uploaded by the maintainer, we prefer to use that since it
may be slightly different (e.g. it contains a configure script so we don’t
need to do AUTORECONF).</p><p>You can see on the release page if it’s an uploaded tarball or a git tag:</p><div class="informalfigure"><div class="mediaobject"><img src="github_hash_mongrel2.png" alt="github_hash_mongrel2.png" /></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If it looks like the image above then it was uploaded by the
  maintainer and you should use that link (in that example:
  <span class="emphasis"><em>mongrel2-v1.9.2.tar.bz2</em></span>) to specify <code class="literal">FOO_SITE</code>, and not use the
  <span class="emphasis"><em>github</em></span> helper.
</li><li class="listitem">
On the other hand, if there’s is <span class="strong"><strong>only</strong></span> the "Source code" link, then
  it’s an automatically generated tarball and you should use the
  <span class="emphasis"><em>github</em></span> helper function.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="gitlab-download-url"></a>18.25.5. How to add a package from Gitlab</h3></div></div></div><p>In a similar way to the <code class="literal">github</code> macro described in
<a class="xref" href="#github-download-url" title="18.25.4. How to add a package from GitHub">Section 18.25.4, “How to add a package from GitHub”</a>, Buildroot also provides the <code class="literal">gitlab</code> macro
to download from Gitlab repositories. It can be used to download
auto-generated tarballs produced by Gitlab, either for specific tags
or commits:</p><pre class="screen"># Use a tag or a full commit ID
FOO_VERSION = 1.0
FOO_SITE = $(call gitlab,&lt;user&gt;,&lt;package&gt;,v$(FOO_VERSION))</pre><p>By default, it will use a <code class="literal">.tar.gz</code> tarball, but Gitlab also provides
<code class="literal">.tar.bz2</code> tarballs, so by adding a <code class="literal">&lt;pkg&gt;_SOURCE</code> variable, this
<code class="literal">.tar.bz2</code> tarball can be used:</p><pre class="screen"># Use a tag or a full commit ID
FOO_VERSION = 1.0
FOO_SITE = $(call gitlab,&lt;user&gt;,&lt;package&gt;,v$(FOO_VERSION))
FOO_SOURCE = foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.bz2</pre><p>If there is a specific tarball uploaded by the upstream developers in
<code class="literal">https://gitlab.com/&lt;project&gt;/releases/</code>, do not use this macro, but
rather use directly the link to the tarball.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_conclusion"></a>18.26. Conclusion</h2></div></div></div><p>As you can see, adding a software package to Buildroot is simply a
matter of writing a Makefile using an existing example and modifying it
according to the compilation process required by the package.</p><p>If you package software that might be useful for other people, don’t
forget to send a patch to the Buildroot mailing list (see
<a class="xref" href="#submitting-patches" title="22.5. Submitting patches">Section 22.5, “Submitting patches”</a>)!</p></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="patch-policy"></a>Chapter 19. Patching a package</h2></div></div></div><p>While integrating a new package or updating an existing one, it may be
necessary to patch the source of the software to get it cross-built within
Buildroot.</p><p>Buildroot offers an infrastructure to automatically handle this during
the builds. It supports three ways of applying patch sets: downloaded patches,
patches supplied within buildroot and patches located in a user-defined
global patch directory.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_providing_patches"></a>19.1. Providing patches</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_downloaded"></a>19.1.1. Downloaded</h3></div></div></div><p>If it is necessary to apply a patch that is available for download, then add it
to the <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_PATCH</code> variable. If an entry contains <code class="literal">://</code>,
then Buildroot will assume it is a full URL and download the patch
from this location. Otherwise, Buildroot will assume that the patch should be
downloaded from <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_SITE</code>. It can be a single patch,
or a tarball containing a patch series.</p><p>Like for all downloads, a hash should be added to the <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;.hash</code>
file.</p><p>This method is typically used for packages from Debian.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_within_buildroot"></a>19.1.2. Within Buildroot</h3></div></div></div><p>Most patches are provided within Buildroot, in the package
directory; these typically aim to fix cross-compilation, libc support,
or other such issues.</p><p>These patch files should be named <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;-&lt;description&gt;.patch</code>.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><p class="title"><strong>Notes</strong></p><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
The patch files coming with Buildroot should not contain any package version
  reference in their filename.
</li><li class="listitem">
The field <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;</code> in the patch file name refers to the <span class="emphasis"><em>apply order</em></span>,
  and shall start at 1; It is preferred to pad the number with zeros up to 4
  digits, like <span class="emphasis"><em>git-format-patch</em></span> does. E.g.: <code class="literal">0001-foobar-the-buz.patch</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
The patch email subject prefix shall not be numbered. Patches shall
  be generated with the <code class="literal">git format-patch -N</code> command, since this
  numbering is automatically added for series. For example, the patch
  subject line should look like <code class="literal">Subject: [PATCH] foobar the buz</code> rather
  than <code class="literal">Subject: [PATCH n/m] foobar the buz</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Previously, it was mandatory for patches to be prefixed with the name of
  the package, like <code class="literal">&lt;package&gt;-&lt;number&gt;-&lt;description&gt;.patch</code>, but that is
  no longer the case. Existing packages will be fixed as time passes. <span class="emphasis"><em>Do
  not prefix patches with the package name.</em></span>
</li><li class="listitem">
Previously, a <code class="literal">series</code> file, as used by <code class="literal">quilt</code>, could also be added in
  the package directory. In that case, the <code class="literal">series</code> file defines the patch
  application order. This is deprecated, and will be removed in the future.
  <span class="emphasis"><em>Do not use a series file.</em></span>
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_global_patch_directory"></a>19.1.3. Global patch directory</h3></div></div></div><p>The <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> configuration file option can be
used to specify a space separated list of one or more directories
containing global package patches. See <a class="xref" href="#customize-patches" title="9.8.1. Providing extra patches">Section 9.8.1, “Providing extra patches”</a> for
details.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="patch-apply-order"></a>19.2. How patches are applied</h2></div></div></div><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
Run the <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS</code> commands if defined;
</li><li class="listitem">
Cleanup the build directory, removing any existing <code class="literal">*.rej</code> files;
</li><li class="listitem">
If <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_PATCH</code> is defined, then patches from these
  tarballs are applied;
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
If there are some <code class="literal">*.patch</code> files in the package’s Buildroot
  directory or in a package subdirectory named <code class="literal">&lt;packageversion&gt;</code>,
  then:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
If a <code class="literal">series</code> file exists in the package directory, then patches are
  applied according to the <code class="literal">series</code> file;
</li><li class="listitem">
Otherwise, patch files matching <code class="literal">*.patch</code> are applied in alphabetical
  order.
  So, to ensure they are applied in the right order, it is highly
  recommended to name the patch files like this:
  <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;-&lt;description&gt;.patch</code>, where <code class="literal">&lt;number&gt;</code> refers to the
  <span class="emphasis"><em>apply order</em></span>.
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
If <code class="literal">BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR</code> is defined, the directories will be
  enumerated in the order they are specified. The patches are applied
  as described in the previous step.
</li><li class="listitem">
Run the <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;_POST_PATCH_HOOKS</code> commands if defined.
</li></ol></div><p>If something goes wrong in the steps <span class="emphasis"><em>3</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>4</em></span>, then the build fails.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_format_and_licensing_of_the_package_patches"></a>19.3. Format and licensing of the package patches</h2></div></div></div><p>Patches are released under the same license as the software they apply
to (see <a class="xref" href="#legal-info-buildroot" title="13.2. Complying with the Buildroot license">Section 13.2, “Complying with the Buildroot license”</a>).</p><p>A message explaining what the patch does, and why it is needed, should
be added in the header commentary of the patch.</p><p>You should add a <code class="literal">Signed-off-by</code> statement in the header of the each
patch to help with keeping track of the changes and to certify that the
patch is released under the same license as the software that is modified.</p><p>If the software is under version control, it is recommended to use the
upstream SCM software to generate the patch set.</p><p>Otherwise, concatenate the header with the output of the
<code class="literal">diff -purN package-version.orig/ package-version/</code> command.</p><p>If you update an existing patch (e.g. when bumping the package version),
make sure the existing From header and Signed-off-by tags are not
removed, but do update the rest of the patch comment when appropriate.</p><p>At the end, the patch should look like:</p><pre class="screen">configure.ac: add C++ support test

Signed-off-by: John Doe &lt;john.doe@noname.org&gt;

--- configure.ac.orig
+++ configure.ac
@@ -40,2 +40,12 @@

AC_PROG_MAKE_SET
+
+AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether the C++ compiler works],
+               [rw_cv_prog_cxx_works],
+               [AC_LANG_PUSH([C++])
+                AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([], [])],
+                               [rw_cv_prog_cxx_works=yes],
+                               [rw_cv_prog_cxx_works=no])
+                AC_LANG_POP([C++])])
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL([CXX_WORKS], [test "x$rw_cv_prog_cxx_works" = "xyes"])</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_additional_patch_documentation"></a>19.4. Additional patch documentation</h2></div></div></div><p>Ideally, all patches should document an upstream patch or patch submission, when
applicable, via the <code class="literal">Upstream</code> trailer.</p><p>When backporting an upstream patch that has been accepted into mainline, it is
preferred that the URL to the commit is referenced:</p><pre class="screen">Upstream: &lt;URL to upstream commit&gt;</pre><p>If a new issue is identified in Buildroot and upstream is generally affected by
the issue (it’s not a Buildroot specific issue), users should submit the patch
upstream and provide a link to that submission when possible:</p><pre class="screen">Upstream: &lt;URL to upstream mailing list submission or merge request&gt;</pre><p>Patches that have been submitted but were denied upstream should note that and
include comments about why the patch is being used despite the upstream status.</p><p>Note: in any of the above scenarios, it is also sensible to add a few words
about any changes to the patch that may have been necessary.</p><p>If a patch does not apply upstream then this should be noted with a comment:</p><pre class="screen">Upstream: N/A &lt;additional information about why patch is Buildroot specific&gt;</pre><p>Adding this documentation helps streamline the patch review process during
package version updates.</p></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="download-infra"></a>Chapter 20. Download infrastructure</h2></div></div></div><p>TODO</p></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="debugging-buildroot"></a>Chapter 21. Debugging Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>It is possible to instrument the steps <code class="literal">Buildroot</code> does when building
packages. Define the variable <code class="literal">BR2_INSTRUMENTATION_SCRIPTS</code> to contain
the path of one or more scripts (or other executables), in a
space-separated list, you want called before and after each step. The
scripts are called in sequence, with three parameters:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">start</code> or <code class="literal">end</code> to denote the start (resp. the end) of a step;
</li><li class="listitem">
the name of the step about to be started, or which just ended;
</li><li class="listitem">
the name of the package.
</li></ul></div><p>For example :</p><pre class="screen">make BR2_INSTRUMENTATION_SCRIPTS="/path/to/my/script1 /path/to/my/script2"</pre><p>The list of steps is:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">extract</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">patch</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">configure</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">build</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">install-host</code>, when a host-package is installed in <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">install-target</code>, when a target-package is installed in <code class="literal">$(TARGET_DIR)</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">install-staging</code>, when a target-package is installed in <code class="literal">$(STAGING_DIR)</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">install-image</code>, when a target-package installs files in <code class="literal">$(BINARIES_DIR)</code>
</li></ul></div><p>The script has access to the following variables:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BR2_CONFIG</code>: the path to the Buildroot .config file
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">HOST_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">STAGING_DIR</code>, <code class="literal">TARGET_DIR</code>: see
    <a class="xref" href="#generic-package-reference" title="18.6.2. generic-package reference">Section 18.6.2, “<code class="literal">generic-package</code> reference”</a>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BUILD_DIR</code>: the directory where packages are extracted and built
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BINARIES_DIR</code>: the place where all binary files (aka images) are
    stored
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">BASE_DIR</code>: the base output directory
</li></ul></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="_contributing_to_buildroot"></a>Chapter 22. Contributing to Buildroot</h2></div></div></div><p>There are many ways in which you can contribute to Buildroot: analyzing
and fixing bugs, analyzing and fixing package build failures detected by
the autobuilders, testing and reviewing patches sent by other
developers, working on the items in our TODO list and sending your own
improvements to Buildroot or its manual. The following sections give a
little more detail on each of these items.</p><p>If you are interested in contributing to Buildroot, the first thing you
should do is to subscribe to the Buildroot mailing list. This list is
the main way of interacting with other Buildroot developers and to send
contributions to. If you aren’t subscribed yet, then refer to
<a class="xref" href="#community-resources" title="Chapter 5. Community resources">Chapter 5, <em>Community resources</em></a> for the subscription link.</p><p>If you are going to touch the code, it is highly recommended to use a
git repository of Buildroot, rather than starting from an extracted
source code tarball. Git is the easiest way to develop from and directly
send your patches to the mailing list. Refer to <a class="xref" href="#getting-buildroot" title="Chapter 3. Getting Buildroot">Chapter 3, <em>Getting Buildroot</em></a>
for more information on obtaining a Buildroot git tree.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_reproducing_analyzing_and_fixing_bugs"></a>22.1. Reproducing, analyzing and fixing bugs</h2></div></div></div><p>A first way of contributing is to have a look at the open bug reports in
the <a class="ulink" href="https://bugs.buildroot.org/buglist.cgi?product=buildroot" target="_top">Buildroot bug
tracker</a>. As we strive to keep the bug count as small as possible, all
help in reproducing, analyzing and fixing reported bugs is more than
welcome. Don’t hesitate to add a comment to bug reports reporting your
findings, even if you don’t yet see the full picture.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_analyzing_and_fixing_autobuild_failures"></a>22.2. Analyzing and fixing autobuild failures</h2></div></div></div><p>The Buildroot autobuilders are a set of build machines that continuously
run Buildroot builds based on random configurations. This is done for
all architectures supported by Buildroot, with various toolchains, and
with a random selection of packages. With the large commit activity on
Buildroot, these autobuilders are a great help in detecting problems
very early after commit.</p><p>All build results are available at <a class="ulink" href="http://autobuild.buildroot.org" target="_top">http://autobuild.buildroot.org</a>,
statistics are at <a class="ulink" href="http://autobuild.buildroot.org/stats.php" target="_top">http://autobuild.buildroot.org/stats.php</a>. Every day,
an overview of all failed packages is sent to the mailing list.</p><p>Detecting problems is great, but obviously these problems have to be
fixed as well. Your contribution is very welcome here! There are
basically two things that can be done:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Analyzing the problems. The daily summary mails do not contain details
  about the actual failures: in order to see what’s going on you have to
  open the build log and check the last output. Having someone doing
  this for all packages in the mail is very useful for other developers,
  as they can make a quick initial analysis based on this output alone.
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Fixing a problem. When fixing autobuild failures, you should follow
  these steps:
</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
Check if you can reproduce the problem by building with the same
    configuration. You can do this manually, or use the
    <a class="ulink" href="http://git.buildroot.org/buildroot-test/tree/utils/br-reproduce-build" target="_top">br-reproduce-build</a>
    script that will automatically clone a Buildroot git repository,
    checkout the correct revision, download and set the right
    configuration, and start the build.
</li><li class="listitem">
Analyze the problem and create a fix.
</li><li class="listitem">
Verify that the problem is really fixed by starting from a clean
    Buildroot tree and only applying your fix.
</li><li class="listitem">
Send the fix to the Buildroot mailing list (see
    <a class="xref" href="#submitting-patches" title="22.5. Submitting patches">Section 22.5, “Submitting patches”</a>). In case you created a patch against the
    package sources, you should also send the patch upstream so that the
    problem will be fixed in a later release, and the patch in Buildroot
    can be removed.
    In the commit message of a patch fixing an autobuild failure, add a
    reference to the build result directory, as follows:
</li></ol></div></li></ul></div><pre class="screen">Fixes: http://autobuild.buildroot.org/results/51000a9d4656afe9e0ea6f07b9f8ed374c2e4069</pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_reviewing_and_testing_patches"></a>22.3. Reviewing and testing patches</h2></div></div></div><p>With the amount of patches sent to the mailing list each day, the
maintainer has a very hard job to judge which patches are ready to apply
and which ones aren’t. Contributors can greatly help here by reviewing
and testing these patches.</p><p>In the review process, do not hesitate to respond to patch submissions
for remarks, suggestions or anything that will help everyone to
understand the patches and make them better. Please use internet
style replies in plain text emails when responding to patch
submissions.</p><p>To indicate approval of a patch, there are three formal tags that keep
track of this approval. To add your tag to a patch, reply to it with the
approval tag below the original author’s Signed-off-by line. These tags
will be picked up automatically by patchwork (see
<a class="xref" href="#apply-patches-patchwork" title="22.3.1. Applying Patches from Patchwork">Section 22.3.1, “Applying Patches from Patchwork”</a>) and will be part of the commit log when
the patch is accepted.</p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
Tested-by
</span></dt><dd>
Indicates that the patch has been tested successfully.
  You are encouraged to specify what kind of testing you performed
  (compile-test on architecture X and Y, runtime test on target A,
  …). This additional information helps other testers and the
  maintainer.
</dd><dt><span class="term">
Reviewed-by
</span></dt><dd>
Indicates that you code-reviewed the patch and did your
  best in spotting problems, but you are not sufficiently familiar with
  the area touched to provide an Acked-by tag. This means that there
  may be remaining problems in the patch that would be spotted by
  someone with more experience in that area. Should such problems be
  detected, your Reviewed-by tag remains appropriate and you cannot
  be blamed.
</dd><dt><span class="term">
Acked-by
</span></dt><dd>
Indicates that you code-reviewed the patch and you are
  familiar enough with the area touched to feel that the patch can be
  committed as-is (no additional changes required). In case it later
  turns out that something is wrong with the patch, your Acked-by could
  be considered inappropriate. The difference between Acked-by and
  Reviewed-by is thus mainly that you are prepared to take the blame on
  Acked patches, but not on Reviewed ones.
</dd></dl></div><p>If you reviewed a patch and have comments on it, you should simply reply
to the patch stating these comments, without providing a Reviewed-by or
Acked-by tag. These tags should only be provided if you judge the patch
to be good as it is.</p><p>It is important to note that neither Reviewed-by nor Acked-by imply
that testing has been performed. To indicate that you both reviewed and
tested the patch, provide two separate tags (Reviewed/Acked-by and
Tested-by).</p><p>Note also that <span class="emphasis"><em>any developer</em></span> can provide Tested/Reviewed/Acked-by
tags, without exception, and we encourage everyone to do this. Buildroot
does not have a defined group of <span class="emphasis"><em>core</em></span> developers, it just so happens
that some developers are more active than others. The maintainer will
value tags according to the track record of their submitter. Tags
provided by a regular contributor will naturally be trusted more than
tags provided by a newcomer. As you provide tags more regularly, your
<span class="emphasis"><em>trustworthiness</em></span> (in the eyes of the maintainer) will go up, but <span class="emphasis"><em>any</em></span>
tag provided is valuable.</p><p>Buildroot’s Patchwork website can be used to pull in patches for testing
purposes. Please see <a class="xref" href="#apply-patches-patchwork" title="22.3.1. Applying Patches from Patchwork">Section 22.3.1, “Applying Patches from Patchwork”</a> for more
information on using Buildroot’s Patchwork website to apply patches.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="apply-patches-patchwork"></a>22.3.1. Applying Patches from Patchwork</h3></div></div></div><p>The main use of Buildroot’s Patchwork website for a developer is for
pulling in patches into their local git repository for testing
purposes.</p><p>When browsing patches in the patchwork management interface, an <code class="literal">mbox</code>
link is provided at the top of the page. Copy this link address and
run the following commands:</p><pre class="screen">$ git checkout -b &lt;test-branch-name&gt;
$ wget -O - &lt;mbox-url&gt; | git am</pre><p>Another option for applying patches is to create a bundle. A bundle is
a set of patches that you can group together using the patchwork
interface. Once the bundle is created and the bundle is made public,
you can copy the <code class="literal">mbox</code> link for the bundle and apply the bundle
using the above commands.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_work_on_items_from_the_todo_list"></a>22.4. Work on items from the TODO list</h2></div></div></div><p>If you want to contribute to Buildroot but don’t know where to start,
and you don’t like any of the above topics, you can always work on items
from the <a class="ulink" href="http://elinux.org/Buildroot#Todo_list" target="_top">Buildroot TODO list</a>.
Don’t hesitate to discuss an item first on the mailing list or on IRC.
Do edit the wiki to indicate when you start working on an item, so we
avoid duplicate efforts.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="submitting-patches"></a>22.5. Submitting patches</h2></div></div></div><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 10%;"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p><span class="emphasis"><em>Please, do not attach patches to bugs, send them to the mailing list
instead</em></span>.</p></div><p>If you made some changes to Buildroot and you would like to contribute
them to the Buildroot project, proceed as follows.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_the_formatting_of_a_patch"></a>22.5.1. The formatting of a patch</h3></div></div></div><p>We expect patches to be formatted in a specific way. This is necessary
to make it easy to review patches, to be able to apply them easily to
the git repository, to make it easy to find back in the history how
and why things have changed, and to make it possible to use <code class="literal">git
bisect</code> to locate the origin of a problem.</p><p>First of all, it is essential that the patch has a good commit
message. The commit message should start with a separate line with a
brief summary of the change, prefixed by the area touched by the
patch. A few examples of good commit titles:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">package/linuxptp: bump version to 2.0</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">configs/imx23evk: bump Linux version to 4.19</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">package/pkg-generic: postpone evaluation of dependency conditions</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">boot/uboot: needs host-{flex,bison}</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">support/testing: add python-ubjson tests</code>
</li></ul></div><p>The description that follows the prefix should start with a lower case
letter (i.e "bump", "needs", "postpone", "add" in the above examples).</p><p>Second, the body of the commit message should describe <span class="emphasis"><em>why</em></span> this
change is needed, and if necessary also give details about <span class="emphasis"><em>how</em></span> it
was done. When writing the commit message, think of how the reviewers
will read it, but also think about how you will read it when you look
at this change again a few years down the line.</p><p>Third, the patch itself should do only one change, but do it
completely. Two unrelated or weakly related changes should usually be
done in two separate patches. This usually means that a patch affects
only a single package. If several changes are related, it is often
still possible to split them up in small patches and apply them in a
specific order. Small patches make it easier to review, and often
make it easier to understand afterwards why a change was done.
However, each patch must be complete. It is not allowed that the
build is broken when only the first but not the second patch is
applied. This is necessary to be able to use <code class="literal">git bisect</code> afterwards.</p><p>Of course, while you’re doing your development, you’re probably going
back and forth between packages, and certainly not committing things
immediately in a way that is clean enough for submission. So most
developers rewrite the history of commits to produce a clean set of
commits that is appropriate for submission. To do this, you need to
use <span class="emphasis"><em>interactive rebasing</em></span>. You can learn about it
<a class="ulink" href="https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Rewriting-History" target="_top">in the Pro
Git book</a>. Sometimes, it is even easier to discard you history with
<code class="literal">git reset --soft origin/master</code> and select individual changes with
<code class="literal">git add -i</code> or <code class="literal">git add -p</code>.</p><p>Finally, the patch should be signed off. This is done by adding
<code class="literal">Signed-off-by: Your Real Name &lt;<a class="ulink" href="mailto:your@email.address" target="_top">your@email.address</a>&gt;</code> at the end of the
commit message. <code class="literal">git commit -s</code> does that for you, if configured
properly. The <code class="literal">Signed-off-by</code> tag means that you publish the patch
under the Buildroot license (i.e. GPL-2.0+, except for package patches,
which have the upstream license), and that you are allowed to do so.
See <a class="ulink" href="http://developercertificate.org/" target="_top">the Developer Certificate of
Origin</a> for details.</p><p>To give credits to who sponsored the creation of a patch or the process of
upstreaming it, you may use
<a class="ulink" href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5233" target="_top">email subaddressing</a> for
your git identity (i.e. what is used as commit author and email <code class="literal">From:</code>
field, as well as your Signed-off-by tag); add suffix to the local part,
separated from it by a plus <code class="literal">+</code> sign. E.g.:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
for a company which sponsored the submitted work, use the company name
  as the detail (suffix) part:
</p><p class="simpara"><code class="literal">Your-Name Your-Surname &lt;your-name.your-surname+companyname@mail.com&gt;</code></p></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
for an individual who sponsored the submitted work, use
  their name and surname:
</p><p class="simpara"><code class="literal">Your-Name Your-Surname &lt;your-name.your-surname+their-name.their-surname@mail.com&gt;</code></p></li></ul></div><p>When adding new packages, you should submit every package in a
separate patch. This patch should have the update to
<code class="literal">package/Config.in</code>, the package <code class="literal">Config.in</code> file, the <code class="literal">.mk</code> file, the
<code class="literal">.hash</code> file, any init script, and all package patches. If the package
has many sub-options, these are sometimes better added as separate
follow-up patches. The summary line should be something like
<code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;: new package</code>. The body of the commit message can be
empty for simple packages, or it can contain the description of the
package (like the Config.in help text). If anything special has to be
done to build the package, this should also be explained explicitly in
the commit message body.</p><p>When you bump a package to a new version, you should also submit a
separate patch for each package. Don’t forget to update the <code class="literal">.hash</code>
file, or add it if it doesn’t exist yet. Also don’t forget to check if
the <code class="literal">_LICENSE</code> and <code class="literal">_LICENSE_FILES</code> are still valid. The summary line
should be something like <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;: bump to version &lt;new
version&gt;</code>. If the new version only contains security updates compared
to the existing one, the summary should be <code class="literal">&lt;packagename&gt;: security
bump to version &lt;new version&gt;</code> and the commit message body should show
the CVE numbers that are fixed. If some package patches can be removed
in the new version, it should be explained explicitly why they can be
removed, preferably with the upstream commit ID. Also any other
required changes should be explained explicitly, like configure
options that no longer exist or are no longer needed.</p><p>If you are interested in getting notified of build failures and of
further changes in the packages you added or modified, please add
yourself to the DEVELOPERS file. This should be done in the same patch
creating or modifying the package. See <a class="link" href="#DEVELOPERS" title="Chapter 23. DEVELOPERS file and get-developers">the DEVELOPERS file</a>
for more information.</p><p>Buildroot provides a handy tool to check for common coding style
mistakes on files you created or modified, called <code class="literal">check-package</code> (see
<a class="xref" href="#check-package" title="18.25.2. How to check the coding style">Section 18.25.2, “How to check the coding style”</a> for more information).</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_preparing_a_patch_series"></a>22.5.2. Preparing a patch series</h3></div></div></div><p>Starting from the changes committed in your local git view, <span class="emphasis"><em>rebase</em></span>
your development branch on top of the upstream tree before generating
a patch set. To do so, run:</p><pre class="screen">$ git fetch --all --tags
$ git rebase origin/master</pre><p>Now check the coding style for the changes you committed:</p><pre class="screen">$ utils/docker-run make check-package</pre><p>Now, you are ready to generate then submit your patch set.</p><p>To generate it, run:</p><pre class="screen">$ git format-patch -M -n -s -o outgoing origin/master</pre><p>This will generate patch files in the <code class="literal">outgoing</code> subdirectory,
automatically adding the <code class="literal">Signed-off-by</code> line.</p><p>Once patch files are generated, you can review/edit the commit message
before submitting them, using your favorite text editor.</p><p>Buildroot provides a handy tool to know to whom your patches should be
sent, called <code class="literal">get-developers</code> (see <a class="xref" href="#DEVELOPERS" title="Chapter 23. DEVELOPERS file and get-developers">Chapter 23, <em>DEVELOPERS file and get-developers</em></a> for more
information). This tool reads your patches and outputs the appropriate
<code class="literal">git send-email</code> command to use:</p><pre class="screen">$ ./utils/get-developers outgoing/*</pre><p>Use the output of <code class="literal">get-developers</code> to send your patches:</p><pre class="screen">$ git send-email --to buildroot@buildroot.org --cc bob --cc alice outgoing/*</pre><p>Alternatively, <code class="literal">get-developers -e</code> can be used directly with the
<code class="literal">--cc-cmd</code> argument to <code class="literal">git send-email</code> to automatically CC the
affected developers:</p><pre class="screen">$ git send-email --to buildroot@buildroot.org \
      --cc-cmd './utils/get-developers -e' origin/master</pre><p><code class="literal">git</code> can be configured to automatically do this out of the box with:</p><pre class="screen">$ git config sendemail.to buildroot@buildroot.org
$ git config sendemail.ccCmd "$(pwd)/utils/get-developers -e"</pre><p>And then just do:</p><pre class="screen">$ git send-email origin/master</pre><p>Note that <code class="literal">git</code> should be configured to use your mail account.
To configure <code class="literal">git</code>, see <code class="literal">man git-send-email</code> or <a class="ulink" href="https://git-send-email.io/" target="_top">https://git-send-email.io/</a>.</p><p>If you do not use <code class="literal">git send-email</code>, make sure posted <span class="strong"><strong>patches are not
line-wrapped</strong></span>, otherwise they cannot easily be applied. In such a case,
fix your e-mail client, or better yet, learn to use <code class="literal">git send-email</code>.</p><p><a class="ulink" href="https://sr.ht" target="_top">https://sr.ht</a> also has a light-weight UI for
<a class="ulink" href="https://man.sr.ht/git.sr.ht/#sending-patches-upstream" target="_top">preparing patchseries</a>
and can also send out the patches for you. There are a few drawbacks to
this, as you cannot edit your patches' status in Patchwork and you
currently can’t edit your display name with which the match emails are
sent out but it is an option if you cannot get git send-email to work
with your mail provider (i.e. O365); it shall not be considered the
official way of sending patches, but just a fallback.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_cover_letter"></a>22.5.3. Cover letter</h3></div></div></div><p>If you want to present the whole patch set in a separate mail, add
<code class="literal">--cover-letter</code> to the <code class="literal">git format-patch</code> command (see <code class="literal">man
git-format-patch</code> for further information). This will generate a
template for an introduction e-mail to your patch series.</p><p>A <span class="emphasis"><em>cover letter</em></span> may be useful to introduce the changes you propose
in the following cases:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
large number of commits in the series;
</li><li class="listitem">
deep impact of the changes in the rest of the project;
</li><li class="listitem">
RFC <a href="#ftn.idm5958" class="footnote" id="idm5958"><sup class="footnote">[4]</sup></a>;
</li><li class="listitem">
whenever you feel it will help presenting your work, your choices,
  the review process, etc.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_patches_for_maintenance_branches"></a>22.5.4. Patches for maintenance branches</h3></div></div></div><p>When fixing bugs on a maintenance branch, bugs should be fixed on the
master branch first. The commit log for such a patch may then contain a
post-commit note specifying what branches are affected:</p><pre class="screen">package/foo: fix stuff

Signed-off-by: Your Real Name &lt;your@email.address&gt;
---
Backport to: 2020.02.x, 2020.05.x
(2020.08.x not affected as the version was bumped)</pre><p>Those changes will then be backported by a maintainer to the affected
branches.</p><p>However, some bugs may apply only to a specific release, for example
because it is using an older version of a package. In that case, patches
should be based off the maintenance branch, and the patch subject prefix
must include the maintenance branch name (for example "[PATCH 2020.02.x]").
This can be done with the <code class="literal">git format-patch</code> flag <code class="literal">--subject-prefix</code>:</p><pre class="screen">$ git format-patch --subject-prefix "PATCH 2020.02.x" \
    -M -s -o outgoing origin/2020.02.x</pre><p>Then send the patches with <code class="literal">git send-email</code>, as described above.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_patch_revision_changelog"></a>22.5.5. Patch revision changelog</h3></div></div></div><p>When improvements are requested, the new revision of each commit
should include a changelog of the modifications between each
submission. Note that when your patch series is introduced by a cover
letter, an overall changelog may be added to the cover letter in
addition to the changelog in the individual commits.
The best thing to rework a patch series is by interactive rebasing:
<code class="literal">git rebase -i origin/master</code>. Consult the git manual for more
information.</p><p>When added to the individual commits, this changelog is added when
editing the commit message. Below the <code class="literal">Signed-off-by</code> section, add
<code class="literal">---</code> and your changelog.</p><p>Although the changelog will be visible for the reviewers in the mail
thread, as well as in
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">patchwork</a>, <code class="literal">git</code>
will automatically ignores lines below <code class="literal">---</code> when the patch will be
merged. This is the intended behavior: the changelog is not meant to
be preserved forever in the <code class="literal">git</code> history of the project.</p><p>Hereafter the recommended layout:</p><pre class="screen">Patch title: short explanation, max 72 chars

A paragraph that explains the problem, and how it manifests itself. If
the problem is complex, it is OK to add more paragraphs. All paragraphs
should be wrapped at 72 characters.

A paragraph that explains the root cause of the problem. Again, more
than one paragraph is OK.

Finally, one or more paragraphs that explain how the problem is solved.
Don't hesitate to explain complex solutions in detail.

Signed-off-by: John DOE &lt;john.doe@example.net&gt;

---
Changes v2 -&gt; v3:
  - foo bar  (suggested by Jane)
  - bar buz

Changes v1 -&gt; v2:
  - alpha bravo  (suggested by John)
  - charly delta</pre><p>Any patch revision should include the version number. The version number
is simply composed of the letter <code class="literal">v</code> followed by an <code class="literal">integer</code> greater or
equal to two (i.e. "PATCH v2", "PATCH v3" …).</p><p>This can be easily handled with <code class="literal">git format-patch</code> by using the option
<code class="literal">--subject-prefix</code>:</p><pre class="screen">$ git format-patch --subject-prefix "PATCH v4" \
    -M -s -o outgoing origin/master</pre><p>Since git version 1.8.1, you can also use <code class="literal">-v &lt;n&gt;</code> (where &lt;n&gt; is the
version number):</p><pre class="screen">$ git format-patch -v4 -M -s -o outgoing origin/master</pre><p>When you provide a new version of a patch, please mark the old one as
superseded in
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">patchwork</a>. You
need to create an account on
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">patchwork</a> to be
able to modify the status of your patches. Note that you can only change
the status of patches you submitted yourself, which means the email
address you register in
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">patchwork</a> should
match the one you use for sending patches to the mailing list.</p><p>You can also add the <code class="literal">--in-reply-to=&lt;message-id&gt;</code> option when
submitting a patch to the mailing list. The id of the mail to reply to
can be found under the "Message Id" tag on
<a class="ulink" href="https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/buildroot/list/" target="_top">patchwork</a>. The
advantage of <span class="strong"><strong>in-reply-to</strong></span> is that patchwork will automatically mark
the previous version of the patch as superseded.</p></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="reporting-bugs"></a>22.6. Reporting issues/bugs or getting help</h2></div></div></div><p>Before reporting any issue, please check in
<a class="link" href="#community-resources" title="Chapter 5. Community resources">the mailing list archive</a> whether someone has
already reported and/or fixed a similar problem.</p><p>However you choose to report bugs or get help, either by
opening a bug in the <a class="link" href="#community-resources" title="Chapter 5. Community resources">bug tracker</a> or by
<a class="link" href="#community-resources" title="Chapter 5. Community resources">sending a mail to the mailing list</a>, there are
a number of details to provide in order to help people reproduce and
find a solution to the issue.</p><p>Try to think as if you were trying to help someone else; in
that case, what would you need?</p><p>Here is a short list of details to provide in such case:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
host machine (OS/release)
</li><li class="listitem">
version of Buildroot
</li><li class="listitem">
target for which the build fails
</li><li class="listitem">
package(s) for which the build fails
</li><li class="listitem">
the command that fails and its output
</li><li class="listitem">
any information you think that may be relevant
</li></ul></div><p>Additionally, you should add the <code class="literal">.config</code> file (or if you know how, a
<code class="literal">defconfig</code>; see <a class="xref" href="#customize-store-buildroot-config" title="9.3. Storing the Buildroot configuration">Section 9.3, “Storing the Buildroot configuration”</a>).</p><p>If some of these details are too large, do not hesitate to use a
pastebin service. Note that not all available pastebin services will
preserve Unix-style line terminators when downloading raw pastes.
Following pastebin services are known to work correctly:
- <a class="ulink" href="https://gist.github.com/" target="_top">https://gist.github.com/</a>
- <a class="ulink" href="http://code.bulix.org/" target="_top">http://code.bulix.org/</a></p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_using_the_runtime_tests_framework"></a>22.7. Using the runtime tests framework</h2></div></div></div><p>Buildroot includes a run-time testing framework built upon Python
scripting and QEMU runtime execution. The goals of the framework are
the following:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
build a well defined Buildroot configuration
</li><li class="listitem">
optionally, verify some properties of the build output
</li><li class="listitem">
optionally, boot the build results under Qemu, and verify that a
  given feature is working as expected
</li></ul></div><p>The entry point to use the runtime tests framework is the
<code class="literal">support/testing/run-tests</code> tool, which has a series of options
documented in the tool’s help <span class="emphasis"><em>-h</em></span> description. Some common options
include setting the download folder, the output folder, keeping build
output, and for multiple test cases, you can set the JLEVEL for each.</p><p>Here is an example walk through of running a test case.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
For a first step, let us see what all the test case options are. The test
cases can be listed by executing <code class="literal">support/testing/run-tests -l</code>. These tests
can all be run individually during test development from the console. Both
one at a time and selectively as a group of a subset of tests.
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">$ support/testing/run-tests -l
List of tests
test_run (tests.utils.test_check_package.TestCheckPackage)
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainBuildrootMusl) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainBuildrootuClibc) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainCCache) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainCtngMusl) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainLinaroArm) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainSourceryArmv4) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainSourceryArmv5) ... ok
test_run (tests.toolchain.test_external.TestExternalToolchainSourceryArmv7) ... ok
[snip]
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRoFull) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRoIfupdown) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRoNetworkd) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRwFull) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRwIfupdown) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_systemd.TestInitSystemSystemdRwNetworkd) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRo) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRoNet) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRw) ... ok
test_run (tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRwNet) ... ok

Ran 157 tests in 0.021s

OK</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Then, to run one test case:
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">$ support/testing/run-tests -d dl -o output_folder -k tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRw
15:03:26 TestInitSystemBusyboxRw                  Starting
15:03:28 TestInitSystemBusyboxRw                  Building
15:08:18 TestInitSystemBusyboxRw                  Building done
15:08:27 TestInitSystemBusyboxRw                  Cleaning up
.
Ran 1 test in 301.140s

OK</pre><p>The standard output indicates if the test is successful or not. By
default, the output folder for the test is deleted automatically
unless the option <code class="literal">-k</code> is passed to <span class="strong"><strong>keep</strong></span> the output directory.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_creating_a_test_case"></a>22.7.1. Creating a test case</h3></div></div></div><p>Within the Buildroot repository, the testing framework is organized at the
top level in <code class="literal">support/testing/</code> by folders of <code class="literal">conf</code>, <code class="literal">infra</code> and <code class="literal">tests</code>.
All the test cases live under the <code class="literal">tests</code> folder and are organized in various
folders representing the category of test.</p><p>The best way to get familiar with how to create a test case is to look
at a few of the basic file system <code class="literal">support/testing/tests/fs/</code> and init
<code class="literal">support/testing/tests/init/</code> test scripts. Those tests give good
examples of a basic tests that include both checking the build
results, and doing runtime tests. There are other more advanced cases
that use things like nested <code class="literal">br2-external</code> folders to provide
skeletons and additional packages.</p><p>Creating a basic test case involves:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Defining a test class that inherits from <code class="literal">infra.basetest.BRTest</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
Defining the <code class="literal">config</code> member of the test class, to the Buildroot
  configuration to build for this test case. It can optionally rely on
  configuration snippets provided by the runtime test infrastructure:
  <code class="literal">infra.basetest.BASIC_TOOLCHAIN_CONFIG</code> to get a basic
  architecture/toolchain configuration, and
  <code class="literal">infra.basetest.MINIMAL_CONFIG</code> to not build any filesystem. The
  advantage of using <code class="literal">infra.basetest.BASIC_TOOLCHAIN_CONFIG</code> is that a
  matching Linux kernel image is provided, which allows to boot the
  resulting image in Qemu without having to build a Linux kernel image
  as part of the test case, therefore significant decreasing the build
  time required for the test case.
</li><li class="listitem">
Implementing a <code class="literal">def test_run(self):</code> function to implement the
  actual tests to run after the build has completed. They may be tests
  that verify the build output, by running command on the host using
  the <code class="literal">run_cmd_on_host()</code> helper function. Or they may boot the
  generated system in Qemu using the <code class="literal">Emulator</code> object available as
  <code class="literal">self.emulator</code> in the test case. For example <code class="literal">self.emulator.boot()</code>
  allows to boot the system in Qemu, <code class="literal">self.emulator.login()</code> allows to
  login, <code class="literal">self.emulator.run()</code> allows to run shell commands inside
  Qemu.
</li></ul></div><p>After creating the test script, add yourself to the <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> file to
be the maintainer of that test case.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_debugging_a_test_case"></a>22.7.2. Debugging a test case</h3></div></div></div><p>When a test case runs, the <code class="literal">output_folder</code> will contain the following:</p><pre class="screen">$ ls output_folder/
TestInitSystemBusyboxRw/
TestInitSystemBusyboxRw-build.log
TestInitSystemBusyboxRw-run.log</pre><p><code class="literal">TestInitSystemBusyboxRw/</code> is the Buildroot output directory, and it
is preserved only if the <code class="literal">-k</code> option is passed.</p><p><code class="literal">TestInitSystemBusyboxRw-build.log</code> is the log of the Buildroot build.</p><p><code class="literal">TestInitSystemBusyboxRw-run.log</code> is the log of the Qemu boot and
test. This file will only exist if the build was successful and the
test case involves booting under Qemu.</p><p>If you want to manually run Qemu to do manual tests of the build
result, the first few lines of <code class="literal">TestInitSystemBusyboxRw-run.log</code>
contain the Qemu command line to use.</p><p>You can also make modifications to the current sources inside the
<code class="literal">output_folder</code> (e.g. for debug purposes) and rerun the standard
Buildroot make targets (in order to regenerate the complete image with
the new modifications) and then rerun the test.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="_runtime_tests_and_gitlab_ci"></a>22.7.3. Runtime tests and Gitlab CI</h3></div></div></div><p>All runtime tests are regularly executed by Buildroot Gitlab CI
infrastructure, see .gitlab.yml and
<a class="ulink" href="https://gitlab.com/buildroot.org/buildroot/-/jobs" target="_top">https://gitlab.com/buildroot.org/buildroot/-/jobs</a>.</p><p>You can also use Gitlab CI to test your new test cases, or verify that
existing tests continue to work after making changes in Buildroot.</p><p>In order to achieve this, you need to create a fork of the Buildroot
project on Gitlab, and be able to push branches to your Buildroot fork
on Gitlab.</p><p>The name of the branch that you push will determine if a Gitlab CI
pipeline will be triggered or not, and for which test cases.</p><p>In the examples below, the &lt;name&gt; component of the branch name is an
arbitrary string you choose.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
To trigger all run-test test case jobs, push a branch that ends with
  <code class="literal">-runtime-tests</code>:
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen"> $ git push gitlab HEAD:&lt;name&gt;-runtime-tests</pre><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
To trigger one or several test case jobs, push a branch that ends
  with the complete test case name
  (<code class="literal">tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRo</code>) or with the name
  of a category of tests (<code class="literal">tests.init.test_busybox</code>):
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen"> $ git push gitlab HEAD:&lt;name&gt;-&lt;test case name&gt;</pre><p>Example to run one test:</p><pre class="screen"> $ git push gitlab HEAD:foo-tests.init.test_busybox.TestInitSystemBusyboxRo</pre><p>Examples to run several tests part of the same group:</p><pre class="screen"> $ git push gitlab HEAD:foo-tests.init.test_busybox
 $ git push gitlab HEAD:foo-tests.init</pre></div></div><div class="footnotes"><br /><hr style="width:100; text-align:left;margin-left: 0" /><div id="ftn.idm5958" class="footnote"><p><a href="#idm5958" class="simpara"><sup class="simpara">[4] </sup></a>RFC: (Request for comments) change proposal</p></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="DEVELOPERS"></a>Chapter 23. DEVELOPERS file and get-developers</h2></div></div></div><p>The main Buildroot directory contains a file named <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> that
lists the developers involved with various areas of Buildroot. Thanks
to this file, the <code class="literal">get-developers</code> tool allows to:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Calculate the list of developers to whom patches should be sent, by
  parsing the patches and matching the modified files with the
  relevant developers. See <a class="xref" href="#submitting-patches" title="22.5. Submitting patches">Section 22.5, “Submitting patches”</a> for details.
</li><li class="listitem">
Find which developers are taking care of a given architecture or
  package, so that they can be notified when a build failure occurs on
  this architecture or package. This is done in interaction with
  Buildroot’s autobuild infrastructure.
</li></ul></div><p>We ask developers adding new packages, new boards, or generally new
functionality in Buildroot, to register themselves in the <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code>
file. As an example, we expect a developer contributing a new package
to include in his patch the appropriate modification to the
<code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> file.</p><p>The <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> file format is documented in detail inside the file
itself.</p><p>The <code class="literal">get-developers</code> tool, located in <code class="literal">utils/</code> allows to use
the <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> file for various tasks:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
When passing one or several patches as command line argument,
  <code class="literal">get-developers</code> will return the appropriate <code class="literal">git send-email</code>
  command. If the <code class="literal">-e</code> option is passed, only the email addresses are
  printed in a format suitable for <code class="literal">git send-email --cc-cmd</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
When using the <code class="literal">-a &lt;arch&gt;</code> command line option, <code class="literal">get-developers</code> will
  return the list of developers in charge of the given architecture.
</li><li class="listitem">
When using the <code class="literal">-p &lt;package&gt;</code> command line option, <code class="literal">get-developers</code>
  will return the list of developers in charge of the given package.
</li><li class="listitem">
When using the <code class="literal">-c</code> command line option, <code class="literal">get-developers</code> will look
  at all files under version control in the Buildroot repository, and
  list the ones that are not handled by any developer. The purpose of
  this option is to help completing the <code class="literal">DEVELOPERS</code> file.
</li><li class="listitem">
When using the <code class="literal">-v</code> command line option, it validates the integrity
  of the DEVELOPERS file and will note WARNINGS for items that don’t
  match.
</li></ul></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="RELENG"></a>Chapter 24. Release Engineering</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_releases"></a>24.1. Releases</h2></div></div></div><p>The Buildroot project makes quarterly releases with monthly bugfix
releases.  The first release of each year is a long term support
release, LTS.</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
Quarterly releases: 2020.02, 2020.05, 2020.08, and 2020.11
</li><li class="listitem">
Bugfix releases: 2020.02.1, 2020.02.2, …
</li><li class="listitem">
LTS releases: 2020.02, 2021.02, …
</li></ul></div><p>Releases are supported until the first bugfix release of the next
release, e.g., 2020.05.x is EOL when 2020.08.1 is released.</p><p>LTS releases are supported until the first bugfix release of the next
LTS, e.g., 2020.02.x is supported until 2021.02.1 is released.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_development"></a>24.2. Development</h2></div></div></div><p>Each release cycle consist of two months of development on the <code class="literal">master</code>
branch and one month stabilization before the release is made.  During
this phase no new features are added to <code class="literal">master</code>, only bugfixes.</p><p>The stabilization phase starts with tagging <code class="literal">-rc1</code>, and every week until
the release, another release candidate is tagged.</p><p>To handle new features and version bumps during the stabilization phase,
a <code class="literal">next</code> branch may be created for these features.  Once the current
release has been made, the <code class="literal">next</code> branch is merged into <code class="literal">master</code> and
the development cycle for the next release continues there.</p></div></div></div><div class="part"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a id="_appendix"></a>Part IV. Appendix</h1></div></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="makedev-syntax"></a>Chapter 25. Makedev syntax documentation</h2></div></div></div><p>The makedev syntax is used in several places in Buildroot to
define changes to be made for permissions, or which device files to
create and how to create them, in order to avoid calls to mknod.</p><p>This syntax is derived from the makedev utility, and more complete
documentation can be found in the <code class="literal">package/makedevs/README</code> file.</p><p>It takes the form of a space separated list of fields, one file per
line; the fields are:</p><div class="informaltable"><table class="informaltable" cellpadding="4px" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-top: 3px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 3px solid #527bbd; border-left: 3px solid #527bbd; border-right: 3px solid #527bbd; "><colgroup><col class="col_1" /><col class="col_2" /><col class="col_3" /><col class="col_4" /><col class="col_5" /><col class="col_6" /><col class="col_7" /><col class="col_8" /><col class="col_9" /><col class="col_10" /></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>name</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>type</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>mode</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>uid</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>gid</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>major</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>minor</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>start</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>inc</p></td><td style="" align="left" valign="top"><p>count</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>There are a few non-trivial blocks:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">name</code> is the path to the file you want to create/modify
</li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
<code class="literal">type</code> is the type of the file, being one of:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">f</code>: a regular file, which must already exist
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">F</code>: a regular file, which is ignored and not created if missing
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">d</code>: a directory, which is created, as well as its parents, if missing
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">r</code>: a directory recursively, which must already exist
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">c</code>: a character device file, which parent directory must exist
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">b</code>: a block device file, which parent directory must exist
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">p</code>: a named pipe, which parent directory must exist
</li></ul></div></li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">mode</code> are the usual permissions settings (only numerical values
  are allowed);
  for type <code class="literal">d</code>, the mode of existing parents is not changed, but the mode
  of created parents is set;
  for types <code class="literal">f</code>, <code class="literal">F</code>, and <code class="literal">r</code>, <code class="literal">mode</code> can also be set to <code class="literal">-1</code> to not
  change the mode (and only change uid and gid)
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uid</code> and <code class="literal">gid</code> are the UID and GID to set on this file; can be
  either numerical values or actual names
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">major</code> and <code class="literal">minor</code> are here for device files, set to <code class="literal">-</code> for other
  files
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">start</code>, <code class="literal">inc</code> and <code class="literal">count</code> are for when you want to create a batch
  of files, and can be reduced to a loop, beginning at <code class="literal">start</code>,
  incrementing its counter by <code class="literal">inc</code> until it reaches <code class="literal">count</code>
</li></ul></div><p>Let’s say you want to change the ownership and permissions of a given
file; using this syntax, you will need to write:</p><pre class="screen">/usr/bin/foo f 755 0 0 - - - - -
/usr/bin/bar f 755 root root - - - - -
/data/buz f 644 buz-user buz-group - - - - -
/data/baz f -1 baz-user baz-group - - - - -</pre><p>Alternatively, if you want to change owner of a directory recursively,
you can write (to set UID to <code class="literal">foo</code> and GID to <code class="literal">bar</code> for the directory
<code class="literal">/usr/share/myapp</code> and all files and directories below it):</p><pre class="screen">/usr/share/myapp r -1 foo bar - - - - -</pre><p>On the other hand, if you want to create the device file <code class="literal">/dev/hda</code>
and the corresponding 15 files for the partitions, you will need for
<code class="literal">/dev/hda</code>:</p><pre class="screen">/dev/hda b 640 root root 3 0 0 0 -</pre><p>and then for device files corresponding to the partitions of
<code class="literal">/dev/hda</code>, <code class="literal">/dev/hdaX</code>, <code class="literal">X</code> ranging from 1 to 15:</p><pre class="screen">/dev/hda b 640 root root 3 1 1 1 15</pre><p>Extended attributes are supported if
<code class="literal">BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_TABLE_SUPPORTS_EXTENDED_ATTRIBUTES</code> is enabled.
This is done by adding a line starting with <code class="literal">|xattr</code> after
the line describing the file. Right now, only capability
is supported as extended attribute.</p><div class="informaltable"><table class="informaltable" cellpadding="4px" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-top: 3px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 3px solid #527bbd; border-left: 3px solid #527bbd; border-right: 3px solid #527bbd; "><colgroup><col class="col_1" /><col class="col_2" /></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>|xattr</p></td><td style="" align="left" valign="top"><p>capability</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">|xattr</code> is a "flag" that indicate an extended attribute
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">capability</code> is a capability to add to the previous file
</li></ul></div><p>If you want to add the capability cap_sys_admin to the binary foo,
you will write :</p><pre class="screen">/usr/bin/foo f 755 root root - - - - -
|xattr cap_sys_admin+eip</pre><p>You can add several capabilities to a file by using several <code class="literal">|xattr</code> lines.
If you want to add the capability cap_sys_admin and cap_net_admin to the
binary foo, you will write :</p><pre class="screen">/usr/bin/foo f 755 root root - - - - -
|xattr cap_sys_admin+eip
|xattr cap_net_admin+eip</pre></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="makeuser-syntax"></a>Chapter 26. Makeusers syntax documentation</h2></div></div></div><p>The syntax to create users is inspired by the makedev syntax, above, but
is specific to Buildroot.</p><p>The syntax for adding a user is a space-separated list of fields, one
user per line; the fields are:</p><div class="informaltable"><table class="informaltable" cellpadding="4px" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-top: 3px solid #527bbd; border-bottom: 3px solid #527bbd; border-left: 3px solid #527bbd; border-right: 3px solid #527bbd; "><colgroup><col class="col_1" /><col class="col_2" /><col class="col_3" /><col class="col_4" /><col class="col_5" /><col class="col_6" /><col class="col_7" /><col class="col_8" /><col class="col_9" /></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>username</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>uid</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>group</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>gid</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>password</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>home</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>shell</p></td><td style="border-right: 1px solid #527bbd; " align="left" valign="top"><p>groups</p></td><td style="" align="left" valign="top"><p>comment</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>Where:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">username</code> is the desired user name (aka login name) for the user.
  It can not be <code class="literal">root</code>, and must be unique. If set to <code class="literal">-</code>, then just a
  group will be created.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uid</code> is the desired UID for the user. It must be unique, and not
  <code class="literal">0</code>. If set to <code class="literal">-1</code> or <code class="literal">-2</code>, then a unique UID will be computed by
  Buildroot, with <code class="literal">-1</code> denoting a system UID from [100…999] and <code class="literal">-2</code>
  denoting a user UID from [1000…1999].
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">group</code> is the desired name for the user’s main group. It can not
  be <code class="literal">root</code>. If the group does not exist, it will be created.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">gid</code> is the desired GID for the user’s main group. It must be unique,
  and not <code class="literal">0</code>. If set to <code class="literal">-1</code> or <code class="literal">-2</code>, and the group does not already
  exist, then a unique GID will be computed by Buildroot, with <code class="literal">-1</code>
  denoting a system GID from [100…999] and <code class="literal">-2</code> denoting a user GID
  from [1000…1999].
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">password</code> is the crypt(3)-encoded password. If prefixed with <code class="literal">!</code>,
  then login is disabled. If prefixed with <code class="literal">=</code>, then it is interpreted
  as clear-text, and will be crypt-encoded (using MD5). If prefixed with
  <code class="literal">!=</code>, then the password will be crypt-encoded (using MD5) and login
  will be disabled. If set to <code class="literal">*</code>, then login is not allowed. If set to
  <code class="literal">-</code>, then no password value will be set.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">home</code> is the desired home directory for the user. If set to <span class="emphasis"><em>-</em></span>, no
  home directory will be created, and the user’s home will be <code class="literal">/</code>.
  Explicitly setting <code class="literal">home</code> to <code class="literal">/</code> is not allowed.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">shell</code> is the desired shell for the user. If set to <code class="literal">-</code>, then
  <code class="literal">/bin/false</code> is set as the user’s shell.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">groups</code> is the comma-separated list of additional groups the user
  should be part of. If set to <code class="literal">-</code>, then the user will be a member of
  no additional group. Missing groups will be created with an arbitrary
  <code class="literal">gid</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">comment</code> (aka <a class="ulink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecos_field" target="_top">GECOS</a>
  field) is an almost-free-form text.
</li></ul></div><p>There are a few restrictions on the content of each field:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
except for <code class="literal">comment</code>, all fields are mandatory.
</li><li class="listitem">
except for <code class="literal">comment</code>, fields may not contain spaces.
</li><li class="listitem">
no field may contain a colon (<code class="literal">:</code>).
</li></ul></div><p>If <code class="literal">home</code> is not <code class="literal">-</code>, then the home directory, and all files below,
will belong to the user and its main group.</p><p>Examples:</p><pre class="screen">foo -1 bar -1 !=blabla /home/foo /bin/sh alpha,bravo Foo user</pre><p>This will create this user:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">username</code> (aka login name) is: <code class="literal">foo</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uid</code> is computed by Buildroot
</li><li class="listitem">
main <code class="literal">group</code> is: <code class="literal">bar</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
main group <code class="literal">gid</code> is computed by Buildroot
</li><li class="listitem">
clear-text <code class="literal">password</code> is: <code class="literal">blabla</code>, will be crypt(3)-encoded, and login is disabled.
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">home</code> is: <code class="literal">/home/foo</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">shell</code> is: <code class="literal">/bin/sh</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">foo</code> is also a member of <code class="literal">groups</code>: <code class="literal">alpha</code> and <code class="literal">bravo</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">comment</code> is: <code class="literal">Foo user</code>
</li></ul></div><pre class="screen">test 8000 wheel -1 = - /bin/sh - Test user</pre><p>This will create this user:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">username</code> (aka login name) is: <code class="literal">test</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">uid</code> is : <code class="literal">8000</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
main <code class="literal">group</code> is: <code class="literal">wheel</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
main group <code class="literal">gid</code> is computed by Buildroot, and will use the value defined in the rootfs skeleton
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">password</code> is empty (aka no password).
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">home</code> is <code class="literal">/</code> but will not belong to <code class="literal">test</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">shell</code> is: <code class="literal">/bin/sh</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">test</code> is not a member of any additional <code class="literal">groups</code>
</li><li class="listitem">
<code class="literal">comment</code> is: <code class="literal">Test user</code>
</li></ul></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="_caveat_with_automatic_uids_and_gids"></a>26.1. Caveat with automatic UIDs and GIDs</h2></div></div></div><p>When updating buildroot or when packages are added or removed to/from
the configuration, it is possible that the automatic UIDs and GIDs are
changed. This can be a problem if persistent files were created with
that user or group: after upgrade, they will suddenly have a different
owner.</p><p>Therefore, it is advisable to perpetuate the automatic IDs. This can be
done by adding a users table with the generated IDs. It is only needed
to do this for UIDs that actually create persistent files, e.g. database.</p></div></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="migrating-from-ol-versions"></a>Chapter 27. Migrating from older Buildroot versions</h2></div></div></div><p>Some versions have introduced backward incompatibilities. This section
explains those incompatibilities, and for each explains what to do to
complete the migration.</p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="migrating-approach"></a>27.1. General approach</h2></div></div></div><p>To migrate from an older Buildroot version, take the following steps.</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem">
For all your configurations, do a build in the old Buildroot
  environment. Run <code class="literal">make graph-size</code>. Save
  <code class="literal">graphs/file-size-stats.csv</code> in a different location. Run <code class="literal">make
  clean</code> to remove the rest.
</li><li class="listitem">
Review the specific migration notes below and make the required
  adaptations to external packages and custom build scripts.
</li><li class="listitem">
Update Buildroot.
</li><li class="listitem">
Run <code class="literal">make menuconfig</code> starting from the existing <code class="literal">.config</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
If anything is enabled in the Legacy menu, check its help text,
  unselect it, and save the configuration.
</li><li class="listitem">
For more details, review the git commit messages for the packages that
  you need. Change into the <code class="literal">packages</code> directory and run
  <code class="literal">git log &lt;old version&gt;.. — &lt;your packages&gt;</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Build in the new Buildroot environment.
</li><li class="listitem">
Fix build issues in external packages (usually due to updated
  dependencies).
</li><li class="listitem">
Run <code class="literal">make graph-size</code>.
</li><li class="listitem">
Compare the new <code class="literal">file-size-stats.csv</code> with the original one, to
  check if no required files have disappeared and if no new big unneeded
  files have appeared.
</li><li class="listitem">
For configuration (and other) files in a custom overlay that overwrite
  files created by Buildroot, check if there are changes in the
  Buildroot-generated file that need to be propagated to your custom
  file.
</li></ol></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="br2-external-converting"></a>27.2. Migrating to 2016.11</h2></div></div></div><p>Before Buildroot 2016.11, it was possible to use only one br2-external
tree at once. With Buildroot 2016.11 came the possibility to use more
than one simultaneously (for details, see <a class="xref" href="#outside-br-custom" title="9.2. Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot">Section 9.2, “Keeping customizations outside of Buildroot”</a>).</p><p>This however means that older br2-external trees are not usable as-is.
A minor change has to be made: adding a name to your br2-external tree.</p><p>This can be done very easily in just a few steps:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
First, create a new file named <code class="literal">external.desc</code>, at the root of your
   br2-external tree, with a single line defining the name of your
   br2-external tree:
</p><pre class="screen">$ echo 'name: NAME_OF_YOUR_TREE' &gt;external.desc</pre><p><strong>Note. </strong>Be careful when choosing a name: It has to be unique and be made
with only ASCII characters from the set <code class="literal">[A-Za-z0-9_]</code>.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p class="simpara">
Then, change every occurrence of <code class="literal">BR2_EXTERNAL</code> in your br2-external
   tree with the new variable:
</p><pre class="screen">$ find . -type f | xargs sed -i 's/BR2_EXTERNAL/BR2_EXTERNAL_NAME_OF_YOUR_TREE_PATH/g'</pre></li></ul></div><p>Now, your br2-external tree can be used with Buildroot 2016.11 onward.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>This change makes your br2-external tree incompatible with Buildroot
before 2016.11.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="migrating-host-usr"></a>27.3. Migrating to 2017.08</h2></div></div></div><p>Before Buildroot 2017.08, host packages were installed in <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)/usr</code>
(with e.g. the autotools' <code class="literal">--prefix=$(HOST_DIR)/usr</code>). With Buildroot
2017.08, they are now installed directly in <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)</code>.</p><p>Whenever a package installs an executable that is linked with a library
in <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)/lib</code>, it must have an RPATH pointing to that directory.</p><p>An RPATH pointing to <code class="literal">$(HOST_DIR)/usr/lib</code> is no longer accepted.</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="migrating-svn-externals"></a>27.4. Migrating to 2023.11</h2></div></div></div><p>Before Buildroot 2023.11, the subversion download backend unconditionally
retrieved the external references (objects with an <code class="literal">svn:externals</code>
property). Starting with 2023.11, externals are no longer retrieved by
default; if you need them, set <code class="literal">LIBFOO_SVN_EXTERNALS</code> to <code class="literal">YES</code>. This
change implies that:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">
the generated archive content may change, and thus the hashes may need
  to be updated appropriately;
</li><li class="listitem">
the archive version suffix has been updated to <code class="literal">-br3</code>, so the hash
  files must be updated appropriately.
</li></ul></div><p>Before Buildroot 2023.11, it was possible (but undocumented and unused)
to apply architecture-specific patches, by prefixing the patch filename
with the architecture, e.g. <code class="literal">0001-some-changes.patch.arm</code> and such a
patch would only be applied for that architecture. With Buildroot 2023.11,
this is no longer supported, and such patches are no longer applied at
all.</p><p>If you still need per-architecture patches, then you may provide a
<a class="link" href="#hooks" title="18.23. Hooks available in the various build steps">pre-patch hook</a> that copies the patches applicable to the
configured architecture, e.g.:</p><pre class="screen">define LIBFOO_ARCH_PATCHES
    $(foreach p,$(wildcard $(LIBFOO_PKGDIR)/*.patch.$(ARCH)), \
        cp -f $(p) $(patsubst %.$(ARCH),%,$(p))
    )
endef
LIBFOO_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS += LIBFOO_ARCH_PATCHES</pre><p>Note that no package in Buildroot has architecture-specific patches, and
that such patches will most probably not be accepted.</p></div></div></div></div></body></html>