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  13. <h1>Buildroot</h1>
  14. </div>
  15. <p><a href="http://buildroot.net/">Buildroot</a>
  16. usage and documentation by Thomas Petazzoni. Contributions from
  17. Karsten Kruse, Ned Ludd, Martin Herren and others. </p>
  18. <ul>
  19. <li><a href="#about">About Buildroot</a></li>
  20. <li><a href="#download">Obtaining Buildroot</a></li>
  21. <li><a href="#using">Using Buildroot</a></li>
  22. <li><a href="#custom_targetfs">Customizing the generated target filesystem</a></li>
  23. <li><a href="#custom_busybox">Customizing the Busybox
  24. configuration</a></li>
  25. <li><a href="#custom_uclibc">Customizing the uClibc
  26. configuration</a></li>
  27. <li><a href="#custom_linux26">Customizing the Linux kernel
  28. configuration</a></li>
  29. <li><a href="#rebuilding_packages">Understanding how to rebuild packages</a></li>
  30. <li><a href="#buildroot_innards">How Buildroot works</a></li>
  31. <li><a href="#using_toolchain">Using the uClibc toolchain
  32. outside Buildroot</a></li>
  33. <li><a href="#external_toolchain">Use an external toolchain</a></li>
  34. <li><a href="#downloaded_packages">Location of downloaded packages</a></li>
  35. <li><a href="#add_packages">Adding new packages to Buildroot</a></li>
  36. <li><a href="#board_support">Creating your own board support</a></li>
  37. <li><a href="#links">Resources</a></li>
  38. </ul>
  39. <h2><a name="about" id="about"></a>About Buildroot</h2>
  40. <p>Buildroot is a set of Makefiles and patches that allows you to
  41. easily generate a cross-compilation toolchain, a root filesystem
  42. and a Linux kernel image for your target. Buildroot can be used
  43. for one, two or all of these options, independently.</p>
  44. <p>Buildroot is useful mainly for people working with embedded systems.
  45. Embedded systems often use processors that are not the regular x86
  46. processors everyone is used to having in his PC. They can be PowerPC
  47. processors, MIPS processors, ARM processors, etc. </p>
  48. <p>A compilation toolchain is the set of tools that allows you to
  49. compile code for your system. It consists of a compiler (in our
  50. case, <code>gcc</code>), binary utils like assembler and linker
  51. (in our case, <code>binutils</code>) and a C standard library (for
  52. example <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html">GNU
  53. Libc</a>, <a href="http://www.uclibc.org/">uClibc</a> or <a
  54. href="http://www.fefe.de/dietlibc/">dietlibc</a>). The system
  55. installed on your development station certainly already has a
  56. compilation toolchain that you can use to compile an application that
  57. runs on your system. If you're using a PC, your compilation
  58. toolchain runs on an x86 processor and generates code for an x86
  59. processor. Under most Linux systems, the compilation toolchain
  60. uses the GNU libc (glibc) as the C standard library. This compilation
  61. toolchain is called the &quot;host compilation toolchain&quot;.
  62. The machine on which it is running, and on which you're
  63. working, is called the &quot;host system&quot;. The compilation toolchain
  64. is provided by your distribution, and Buildroot has nothing to do
  65. with it (other than using it to build a cross-compilation toolchain
  66. and other tools that are run on the development host). </p>
  67. <p>As said above, the compilation toolchain that comes with your system
  68. runs on and generates code for the processor in your host system. As your
  69. embedded system has a different processor, you need a cross-compilation
  70. toolchain &mdash; a compilation toolchain that runs on your host system but
  71. generates code for your target system (and target processor). For
  72. example, if your host system uses x86 and your target system uses ARM, the
  73. regular compilation toolchain on your host runs on x86 and generates code
  74. for x86, while the cross-compilation toolchain runs on x86 and generates
  75. code for ARM. </p>
  76. <p>Even if your embedded system uses an x86 processor, you might be interested
  77. in Buildroot for two reasons:</p>
  78. <ul>
  79. <li>The compilation toolchain on your host certainly uses the GNU Libc
  80. which is a complete but huge C standard library. Instead of using GNU
  81. Libc on your target system, you can use uClibc which is a tiny C standard
  82. library. If you want to use this C library, then you need a compilation
  83. toolchain to generate binaries linked with it. Buildroot can do that for
  84. you. </li>
  85. <li>Buildroot automates the building of a root filesystem with all needed
  86. tools like busybox. That makes it much easier than doing it by hand. </li>
  87. </ul>
  88. <p>You might wonder why such a tool is needed when you can compile
  89. <code>gcc</code>, <code>binutils</code>, <code>uClibc</code> and all
  90. the other tools by hand.
  91. Of course doing so is possible. But, dealing with all of the configure options
  92. and problems of every <code>gcc</code> or <code>binutils</code>
  93. version is very time-consuming and uninteresting. Buildroot automates this
  94. process through the use of Makefiles and has a collection of patches for
  95. each <code>gcc</code> and <code>binutils</code> version to make them work
  96. on most architectures. </p>
  97. <p>Moreover, Buildroot provides an infrastructure for reproducing
  98. the build process of your kernel, cross-toolchain, and embedded root filesystem. Being able to
  99. reproduce the build process will be useful when a component needs
  100. to be patched or updated or when another person is supposed to
  101. take over the project.</p>
  102. <h2><a name="download" id="download"></a>Obtaining Buildroot</h2>
  103. <p>Buildroot releases are made approximately every 3
  104. months. Direct Git access and daily snapshots are also
  105. available if you want more bleeding edge.</p>
  106. <p>Releases are available at <a
  107. href="http://buildroot.net/downloads/">http://buildroot.net/downloads/</a>.</p>
  108. <p>The latest snapshot is always available at <a
  109. href="http://buildroot.net/downloads/snapshots/buildroot-snapshot.tar.bz2">http://buildroot.net/downloads/snapshots/buildroot-snapshot.tar.bz2</a>,
  110. and previous snapshots are also available at <a
  111. href="http://buildroot.net/downloads/snapshots/">http://buildroot.net/downloads/snapshots/</a>. </p>
  112. <p>To download Buildroot using Git you can simply follow
  113. the rules described on the &quot;Accessing Git&quot; page (<a href=
  114. "http://buildroot.net/git.html">http://buildroot.net/git.html</a>)
  115. of the Buildroot website (<a href=
  116. "http://buildroot.net">http://buildroot.net</a>).
  117. For the impatient, here's a quick
  118. recipe:</p>
  119. <pre>
  120. $ git clone git://git.buildroot.net/buildroot
  121. </pre>
  122. <h2><a name="using" id="using"></a>Using Buildroot</h2>
  123. <p>Buildroot has a nice configuration tool similar to the one you can find
  124. in the Linux kernel (<a href=
  125. "http://www.kernel.org/">http://www.kernel.org/</a>) or in Busybox
  126. (<a href="http://www.busybox.org/">http://www.busybox.org/</a>). Note that
  127. you can (and should) build everything as a normal user. There is no need to be root to
  128. configure and use Buildroot. The first step is to run the configuration
  129. assistant:</p>
  130. <pre>
  131. $ make menuconfig
  132. </pre>
  133. <p>to run the curses-based configurator, or</p>
  134. <pre>
  135. $ make xconfig
  136. </pre>
  137. <p>to run the Qt3-based configurator.</p>
  138. <p>Both of these "make" commands will need to build a configuration
  139. utility, so you may need to install "development" packages for
  140. relevent libraries used by the configuration utilities.
  141. On Debian-like systems, the
  142. <code>libncurses5-dev</code> package is required to use the
  143. <i>menuconfig</i> interface, and the <code>libqt3-mt-dev</code> is
  144. required to use the <i>xconfig</i> interface.</p>
  145. <p>For each menu entry in the configuration tool, you can find associated help
  146. that describes the purpose of the entry. </p>
  147. <p>Once everything is configured, the configuration tool generates a
  148. <code>.config</code> file that contains the description of your
  149. configuration. It will be used by the Makefiles to do what's needed. </p>
  150. <p>Let's go:</p>
  151. <pre>
  152. $ make
  153. </pre>
  154. <p>This command will generally perform the following steps:</p>
  155. <ul>
  156. <li>Download source files (as required)</li>
  157. <li>Configure cross-compile toolchain</li>
  158. <li>Build/install cross-compile toolchain</li>
  159. <li>Build/install selected target packages</li>
  160. <li>Build a kernel image</li>
  161. <li>Create a root filesystem in selected formats</li>
  162. </ul>
  163. <p>Some of the above steps might not be performed if they are not
  164. selected in the Buildroot configuration.
  165. </p>
  166. <p>Buildroot output is stored in a single directory,
  167. <code>output/</code>. This directory contains several
  168. subdirectories:</p>
  169. <ul>
  170. <li><code>images/</code> where all the images (kernel image,
  171. bootloader and root filesystem images) are stored.</li>
  172. <li><code>build/</code> where all the components except for the
  173. cross-compilation toolchain are built
  174. (this includes tools needed to run Buildroot on the host and packages compiled
  175. for the target). The <code>build/</code> directory contains one
  176. subdirectory for each of these components.</li>
  177. <li><code>staging/</code> which contains a hierarchy similar to
  178. a root filesystem hierarchy. This directory contains the
  179. installation of the cross-compilation toolchain and all the
  180. userspace packages selected for the target. However, this
  181. directory is <i>not</i> intended to be the root filesystem for
  182. the target: it contains a lot of development files, unstripped
  183. binaries and libraries that make it far too big for an embedded
  184. system. These development files are used to compile libraries
  185. and applications for the target that depend on other
  186. libraries.</li>
  187. <li><code>target/</code> which contains <i>almost</i> the root
  188. filesystem for the target: everything needed is present except
  189. the device files in <code>/dev/</code> (Buildroot can't create
  190. them because Buildroot doesn't run as root and does not want to
  191. run as root). Therefore, this directory <b>should not be used on
  192. your target</b>. Instead, you should use one of the images
  193. built in the <code>images/</code> directory. If you need an
  194. extracted image of the root filesystem for booting over NFS,
  195. then use the tarball image generated in <code>images/</code> and
  196. extract it as root.<br/>Compared to <code>staging/</code>,
  197. <code>target/</code> contains only the files and libraries needed
  198. to run the selected target applications: the development files
  199. (headers, etc.) are not present.</li>
  200. <li><code>host/</code> contains the installation of tools
  201. compiled for the host that are needed for the proper execution
  202. of Buildroot except for the cross-compilation toolchain which is
  203. installed under <code>staging/</code>.</li>
  204. <li><code>toolchain/</code> contains the build directories for
  205. the various components of the cross-compilation toolchain.</li>
  206. </ul>
  207. <h3><a name="offline_builds" id="offline_builds"></a>
  208. Offline builds</h3>
  209. <p>If you intend to do an offline build and just want to download
  210. all sources that you previously selected in the configurator
  211. (<i>menuconfig</i> or <i>xconfig</i>), then issue:</p>
  212. <pre>
  213. $ make source
  214. </pre>
  215. <p>You can now disconnect or copy the content of your <code>dl</code>
  216. directory to the build-host. </p>
  217. <h3><a name="building_out_of_tree" id="building_out_of_tree"></a>
  218. Building out-of-tree</h3>
  219. <p>Buildroot supports building out of tree with a syntax similar
  220. to the Linux kernel. To use it, add O=&lt;directory&gt; to the
  221. make command line:</p>
  222. <pre>
  223. $ make O=/tmp/build
  224. </pre>
  225. <p>All the output files will be located under
  226. <code>/tmp/build</code>.</p>
  227. <h3><a name="environment_variables" id="environment_variables"></a>
  228. Environment variables</h3>
  229. <p>Buildroot also honors some environment variables when they are passed
  230. to <code>make</code>:</p>
  231. <ul>
  232. <li><code>HOSTCXX</code>, the host C++ compiler to use</li>
  233. <li><code>HOSTCC</code>, the host C compiler to use</li>
  234. <li><code>UCLIBC_CONFIG_FILE=&lt;path/to/.config&gt;</code>, path
  235. to the uClibc configuration file to use to compile uClibc if an
  236. internal toolchain is being built</li>
  237. <li><code>BUSYBOX_CONFIG_FILE=&lt;path/to/.config&gt;</code>, path
  238. to the Busybox configuration file</li>
  239. <li><code>LINUX26_KCONFIG=&lt;path/to/.config&gt;</code>, path
  240. to the Linux kernel configuration file</li>
  241. <li><code>BUILDROOT_COPYTO</code>, an additional location to which
  242. the binary images of the root filesystem, kernel, etc. built by
  243. Buildroot are copied</li>
  244. <li><code>BUILDROOT_DL_DIR</code> to override the directory in
  245. which Buildroot stores/retrieves downloaded files</li>
  246. </ul>
  247. <p>An example that uses config files located in the toplevel directory and
  248. in your $HOME:</p>
  249. <pre>
  250. $ make UCLIBC_CONFIG_FILE=uClibc.config BUSYBOX_CONFIG_FILE=$HOME/bb.config
  251. </pre>
  252. <p>If you want to use a compiler other than the default <code>gcc</code>
  253. or <code>g++</code> for building helper-binaries on your host, then do</p>
  254. <pre>
  255. $ make HOSTCXX=g++-4.3-HEAD HOSTCC=gcc-4.3-HEAD
  256. </pre>
  257. <p>If you want the result of your build to be copied to another directory
  258. like /tftpboot for downloading to a board using tftp, then you
  259. can use BUILDROOT_COPYTO to specify your location</p>
  260. <p>Typically, this is set in your ~/.bashrc file
  261. <pre>
  262. $ export BUILDROOT_COPYTO=/tftpboot
  263. </pre>
  264. <h2><a name="custom_targetfs" id="custom_targetfs"></a>Customizing the
  265. generated target filesystem</h2>
  266. <p>There are a few ways to customize the resulting target filesystem:</p>
  267. <ul>
  268. <li>Customize the target filesystem directly and rebuild the image. The
  269. target filesystem is available under <code>output/target/</code>.
  270. You can simply make your changes here and run make afterwards &mdash; this will
  271. rebuild the target filesystem image. This method allows you to do anything
  272. to the target filesystem, but if you decide to completely rebuild your
  273. toolchain and tools, these changes will be lost. </li>
  274. <li>Customize the target filesystem skeleton available under
  275. <code>target/generic/target_skeleton/</code>. You can customize
  276. configuration files or other stuff here. However, the full file hierarchy
  277. is not yet present because it's created during the compilation process.
  278. Therefore, you can't do everything on this target filesystem skeleton, but
  279. changes to it do remain even if you completely rebuild the cross-compilation
  280. toolchain and the tools. <br />
  281. You can also customize the <code>target/generic/device_table.txt</code>
  282. file which is used by the tools that generate the target filesystem image
  283. to properly set permissions and create device nodes.<br />
  284. These customizations are deployed into
  285. <code>output/target/</code> just before the actual image
  286. is made. Simply rebuilding the image by running
  287. make should propagate any new changes to the image. </li>
  288. <li>Add support for your own target in Buildroot so that you
  289. have your own target skeleton (see <a href="#board_support">this
  290. section</a> for details).</li>
  291. <li>In the Buildroot configuration, you can specify the path to a
  292. post-build script that gets called <i>after</i> Buildroot builds
  293. all the selected software but <i>before</i> the the rootfs
  294. packages are assembled. The destination root filesystem folder
  295. is given as the first argument to this script, and this script can
  296. then be used to copy programs, static data or any other needed
  297. file to your target filesystem.<br/>You should, however, use
  298. this feature with care. Whenever you find that a certain package
  299. generates wrong or unneeded files, you should fix that
  300. package rather than work around it with a post-build cleanup script.</li>
  301. <li>A special package, <i>customize</i>, stored in
  302. <code>package/customize</code> can be used. You can put all the
  303. files that you want to see in the final target root filesystem
  304. in <code>package/customize/source</code> and then enable this
  305. special package in the configuration system.</li>
  306. </ul>
  307. <h2><a name="custom_busybox" id="custom_busybox"></a>Customizing the
  308. Busybox configuration</h2>
  309. <p><a href="http://www.busybox.net/">Busybox</a> is very configurable, and
  310. you may want to customize it. You can
  311. follow these simple steps to do so. This method isn't optimal, but it's
  312. simple and it works:</p>
  313. <ol>
  314. <li>Do an initial compilation of Buildroot with busybox without trying to
  315. customize it. </li>
  316. <li>Invoke <code>make busybox-menuconfig</code>.
  317. The nice configuration tool appears, and you can
  318. customize everything. </li>
  319. <li>Run the compilation of Buildroot again. </li>
  320. </ol>
  321. <p>Otherwise, you can simply change the
  322. <code>package/busybox/busybox-&lt;version&gt;.config</code> file if you
  323. know the options you want to change without using the configuration tool.
  324. </p>
  325. <p>If you want to use an existing config file for busybox, then see
  326. section <a href="#environment_variables">environment variables</a>. </p>
  327. <h2><a name="custom_uclibc" id="custom_uclibc"></a>Customizing the uClibc
  328. configuration</h2>
  329. <p>Just like <a href="#custom_busybox">BusyBox</a>, <a
  330. href="http://www.uclibc.org/">uClibc</a> offers a lot of
  331. configuration options. They allow you to select various
  332. functionalities depending on your needs and limitations. </p>
  333. <p>The easiest way to modify the configuration of uClibc is to
  334. follow these steps:</p>
  335. <ol>
  336. <li>Do an initial compilation of Buildroot without trying to
  337. customize uClibc. </li>
  338. <li>Invoke <code>make uclibc-menuconfig</code>.
  339. The nice configuration assistant, similar to
  340. the one used in the Linux kernel or Buildroot, appears. Make
  341. your configuration changes as appropriate. </li>
  342. <li>Copy the <code>.config</code> file to
  343. <code>toolchain/uClibc/uClibc.config</code> or
  344. <code>toolchain/uClibc/uClibc.config-locale</code>. The former
  345. is used if you haven't selected locale support in Buildroot
  346. configuration, and the latter is used if you have selected
  347. locale support. </li>
  348. <li>Run the compilation of Buildroot again.</li>
  349. </ol>
  350. <p>Otherwise, you can simply change
  351. <code>toolchain/uClibc/uClibc.config</code> or
  352. <code>toolchain/uClibc/uClibc.config-locale</code> without running
  353. the configuration assistant. </p>
  354. <p>If you want to use an existing config file for uclibc, then see
  355. section <a href="#environment_variables">environment variables</a>. </p>
  356. <h2><a name="custom_linux26" id="custom_linux26"></a>Customizing
  357. the Linux kernel configuration</h2>
  358. <p>The Linux kernel configuration can be customized just like <a
  359. href="#custom_busybox">BusyBox</a> and <a href="#custom_uclibc">uClibc</a>
  360. using <code>make linux26-menuconfig</code>. Make sure you have
  361. enabled the kernel build in <code>make menuconfig</code> first.
  362. Once done, run <code>make</code> to (re)build everything.</p>
  363. <p>If you want to use an existing config file for Linux, then see
  364. section <a href="#environment_variables">environment variables</a>.</p>
  365. <h2><a name="#rebuilding_packages"
  366. id="rebuilding_packages">Understanding how to rebuild
  367. packages</a></h2>
  368. <p>One of the most common questions asked by Buildroot
  369. users is how to rebuild a given package or how to
  370. remove a package without rebuilding everything from scratch.</p>
  371. <p>Removing a package is currently unsupported by Buildroot
  372. without rebuilding from scratch. This is because Buildroot doesn't
  373. keep track of which package installs what files in the
  374. <code>output/staging</code> and <code>output/target</code>
  375. directories. However, implementing clean package removal is on the
  376. TODO-list of Buildroot developers.</p>
  377. <p>The easiest way to rebuild a single package from scratch is to
  378. remove its build directory in <code>output/build</code>. Buildroot
  379. will then re-extract, re-configure, re-compile and re-install this
  380. package from scratch.</p>
  381. <p>However, if you don't want to rebuild the package completely
  382. from scratch, a better understanding of the Buildroot internals is
  383. needed. Internally, to keep track of which steps have been done
  384. and which steps remain to be done, Buildroot maintains stamp
  385. files (empty files that just tell whether this or that action
  386. has been done). The problem is that these stamp files are not
  387. uniformely named and handled by the different packages, so some
  388. understanding of the particular package is needed.</p>
  389. <p>For packages relying on Buildroot packages infrastructures (see
  390. <a href="#add_packages">this section</a> for details), the
  391. following stamp files are relevent:</p>
  392. <ul>
  393. <li><code>output/build/packagename-version/.stamp_configured</code>. If
  394. removed, Buildroot will trigger the recompilation of the package
  395. from the configuration step (execution of
  396. <code>./configure</code>).</li>
  397. <li><code>output/build/packagename-version/.stamp_built</code>. If
  398. removed, Buildroot will trigger the recompilation of the package
  399. from the compilation step (execution of <code>make</code>).</li>
  400. </ul>
  401. <p>For other packages, an analysis of the specific
  402. <i>package.mk</i> file is needed. For example, the zlib Makefile
  403. used to look like this (before it was converted to the generic
  404. package infrastructure):</p>
  405. <pre>
  406. $(ZLIB_DIR)/.configured: $(ZLIB_DIR)/.patched
  407. (cd $(ZLIB_DIR); rm -rf config.cache; \
  408. [...]
  409. )
  410. touch $@
  411. $(ZLIB_DIR)/libz.a: $(ZLIB_DIR)/.configured
  412. $(MAKE) -C $(ZLIB_DIR) all libz.a
  413. touch -c $@
  414. </pre>
  415. <p>If you want to trigger the reconfiguration, you need to
  416. remove <code>output/build/zlib-version/.configured</code>. If
  417. you want to trigger only the recompilation, you need to remove
  418. <code>output/build/zlib-version/libz.a</code>.</p>
  419. <p>Note that most packages, if not all, will progressively be
  420. ported over the generic or the autotools infrastructure, making it
  421. much easier to rebuild individual packages.</p>
  422. <h2><a name="buildroot_innards" id="buildroot_innards"></a>How Buildroot
  423. works</h2>
  424. <p>As mentioned above, Buildroot is basically a set of Makefiles that downloads,
  425. configures and compiles software with the correct options. It also includes
  426. patches for various software packages &mdash; mainly the ones involved in the
  427. cross-compilation tool chain (<code>gcc</code>, <code>binutils</code> and
  428. <code>uClibc</code>). </p>
  429. <p>There is basically one Makefile per software package, and they are named with
  430. the <code>.mk</code> extension. Makefiles are split into three main
  431. sections:</p>
  432. <ul>
  433. <li><b>toolchain</b> (in the <code>toolchain/</code> directory) contains
  434. the Makefiles and associated files for all software related to the
  435. cross-compilation toolchain: <code>binutils</code>, <code>ccache</code>,
  436. <code>gcc</code>, <code>gdb</code>, <code>kernel-headers</code> and
  437. <code>uClibc</code>. </li>
  438. <li><b>package</b> (in the <code>package/</code> directory) contains the
  439. Makefiles and associated files for all user-space tools that Buildroot
  440. can compile and add to the target root filesystem. There is one
  441. sub-directory per tool. </li>
  442. <li><b>target</b> (in the <code>target</code> directory) contains the
  443. Makefiles and associated files for software related to the generation of
  444. the target root filesystem image. Four types of filesystems are supported:
  445. ext2, jffs2, cramfs and squashfs. For each of them there is a
  446. sub-directory with the required files. There is also a
  447. <code>default/</code> directory that contains the target filesystem
  448. skeleton. </li>
  449. </ul>
  450. <p>Each directory contains at least 2 files:</p>
  451. <ul>
  452. <li><code>something.mk</code> is the Makefile that downloads, configures,
  453. compiles and installs the package <code>something</code>. </li>
  454. <li><code>Config.in</code> is a part of the configuration tool
  455. description file. It describes the options related to the
  456. package. </li>
  457. </ul>
  458. <p>The main Makefile performs the following steps (once the
  459. configuration is done):</p>
  460. <ol>
  461. <li>Create all the output directories: <code>staging</code>,
  462. <code>target</code>, <code>build</code>, <code>stamps</code>,
  463. etc. in the output directory (<code>output/</code> by default,
  464. another value can be specified using <code>O=</code>)</li>
  465. <li>Generate all the targets listed in the
  466. <code>BASE_TARGETS</code> variable. When an internal toolchain
  467. is used, this means generating the cross-compilation
  468. toolchain. When an external toolchain is used, this means checking
  469. the features of the external toolchain and importing it into the
  470. Buildroot environment.</li>
  471. <li>Generate all the targets listed in the <code>TARGETS</code>
  472. variable. This variable is filled by all the individual
  473. components' Makefiles. Generating these targets will
  474. trigger the compilation of the userspace packages (libraries,
  475. programs), the kernel, the bootloader and the generation of the
  476. root filesystem images, depending on the configuration.</li>
  477. </ol>
  478. <h2><a name="board_support" id="board_support"></a>
  479. Creating your own board support</h2>
  480. <p>Creating your own board support in Buildroot allows you to have
  481. a convenient place to store your project's target filesystem skeleton
  482. and configuration files for Buildroot, Busybox, uClibc, and the kernel.
  483. <p>Follow these steps to integrate your board in Buildroot:</p>
  484. <ol>
  485. <li>Create a new directory in <code>target/device/</code> named
  486. after your company or organization</li>
  487. <li>Add a line <code>source
  488. "target/device/yourcompany/Config.in"</code> in
  489. <code>target/device/Config.in</code> so that your board appears
  490. in the configuration system</li>
  491. <li>In <code>target/device/yourcompany/</code>, create a
  492. directory for your project. This way, you'll be able to store
  493. several of your company's projects inside Buildroot.</li>
  494. <li>Create a <code>target/device/yourcompany/Config.in</code>
  495. file that looks like the following:
  496. <pre>
  497. menuconfig BR2_TARGET_COMPANY
  498. bool "Company projects"
  499. if BR2_TARGET_COMPANY
  500. config BR2_TARGET_COMPANY_PROJECT_FOOBAR
  501. bool "Support for Company project Foobar"
  502. help
  503. This option enables support for Company project Foobar
  504. endif
  505. </pre>
  506. Of course, you should customize the different values to match your
  507. company/organization and your project. This file will create a
  508. menu entry that contains the different projects of your
  509. company/organization.</li>
  510. <li>Create a <code>target/device/yourcompany/Makefile.in</code>
  511. file that looks like the following:
  512. <pre>
  513. ifeq ($(BR2_TARGET_COMPANY_PROJECT_FOOBAR),y)
  514. include target/device/yourcompany/project-foobar/Makefile.in
  515. endif
  516. </pre>
  517. </li>
  518. <li>Create the
  519. <code>target/device/yourcompany/project-foobar/Makefile.in</code>
  520. file. It is recommended that you define a
  521. <code>BOARD_PATH</code> variable set to
  522. <code>target/device/yourcompany/project-foobar</code> as it
  523. will simplify further definitions. Then, the file might define
  524. one or several of the following variables:
  525. <ul>
  526. <li><code>TARGET_SKELETON</code> to a directory that contains
  527. the target skeleton for your project. If this variable is
  528. defined, this target skeleton will be used instead of the
  529. default one. If defined, the convention is to define it to
  530. <code>$(BOARD_PATH)/target_skeleton</code> so that the target
  531. skeleton is stored in the board specific directory.</li>
  532. </ul>
  533. </li>
  534. <li>In the
  535. <code>target/device/yourcompany/project-foobar/</code>
  536. directory you can store configuration files for the kernel,
  537. Busybox or uClibc.
  538. You can furthermore create one or more preconfigured configuration
  539. files, referencing those files. These config files are named
  540. <code>something_defconfig</code> and are stored in the toplevel
  541. <code>configs/</code> directory. Your users will then be able
  542. to run <code>make something_defconfig</code> and get the right
  543. configuration for your project</li>
  544. </ol>
  545. <h2><a name="using_toolchain" id="using_toolchain"></a>Using the
  546. generated toolchain outside Buildroot</h2>
  547. <p>You may want to compile for your target your own programs or other software
  548. that are not packaged in Buildroot. In order to do this you can
  549. use the toolchain that was generated by Buildroot. </p>
  550. <p>The toolchain generated by Buildroot is located by default in
  551. <code>output/staging/</code>. The simplest way to use it
  552. is to add <code>output/staging/usr/bin/</code> to your PATH
  553. environnement variable and then to use
  554. <code>ARCH-linux-gcc</code>, <code>ARCH-linux-objdump</code>,
  555. <code>ARCH-linux-ld</code>, etc. </p>
  556. <p><b>Important</b>: do not try to move a gcc-3.x toolchain to another
  557. directory &mdash; it won't work because there are some hardcoded paths in the
  558. gcc-3.x configuration. If you are using a current gcc-4.x, it
  559. is possible to relocate the toolchain &mdash; but then
  560. <code>--sysroot</code> must be passed every time the compiler is
  561. called to tell where the libraries and header files are.</p>
  562. <p>It is also possible to generate the Buildroot toolchain in
  563. a directory other than <code>output/staging</code> by using the
  564. <code>Build options -&gt; Toolchain and header file
  565. location</code> options. This could be useful if the toolchain
  566. must be shared with other users.</p>
  567. <h2><a name="downloaded_packages"
  568. id="downloaded_packages"></a>Location of downloaded packages</h2>
  569. <p>It might be useful to know that the various tarballs that are
  570. downloaded by the Makefiles are all stored in the
  571. <code>DL_DIR</code> which by default is the <code>dl</code>
  572. directory. It's useful, for example, if you want to keep a complete
  573. version of Buildroot which is know to be working with the
  574. associated tarballs. This will allow you to regenerate the
  575. toolchain and the target filesystem with exactly the same
  576. versions. </p>
  577. <p>If you maintain several Buildroot trees, it might be better to have
  578. a shared download location. This can be accessed by creating a symbolic link
  579. from the <code>dl</code> directory to the shared download location: </p>
  580. <pre>
  581. ln -s &lt;shared download location&gt; dl
  582. </pre>
  583. <p>Another way of accessing a shared download location is to
  584. create the <code>BUILDROOT_DL_DIR</code> environment variable.
  585. If this is set, then the value of DL_DIR in the project is
  586. overridden. The following line should be added to
  587. <code>&quot;~/.bashrc&quot;</code>. <p>
  588. <pre>
  589. export BUILDROOT_DL_DIR &lt;shared download location&gt;
  590. </pre>
  591. <h2><a name="external_toolchain" id="external_toolchain"></a>Using
  592. an external toolchain</h2>
  593. <p>It might be useful not to use the toolchain generated by
  594. Buildroot, for example if you already have a toolchain that is known
  595. to work for your specific CPU, or if the toolchain generation feature
  596. of Buildroot is not sufficiently flexible for you (for example if you
  597. need to generate a system with <i>glibc</i> instead of
  598. <i>uClibc</i>). Buildroot supports using an <i>external
  599. toolchain</i>.</p>
  600. <p>To enable the use of an external toolchain, go in the
  601. <code>Toolchain</code> menu, and&nbsp;:</p>
  602. <ul>
  603. <li>Select the <code>External binary toolchain</code> toolchain
  604. type</li>
  605. <li>Adjust the <code>External toolchain path</code>
  606. appropriately. It should be set to a path where a bin/ directory
  607. contains your cross-compiling tools</li>
  608. <li>Adjust the <code>External toolchain prefix</code> so that the
  609. prefix, suffixed with <code>-gcc</code> or <code>-ld</code> will
  610. correspond to your cross-compiling tools</li>
  611. </ul>
  612. <p>If you are using an external toolchain based on <i>uClibc</i>, the
  613. <code>Core C library from the external toolchain</code> and
  614. <code>Libraries to copy from the external toolchain</code> options
  615. should already have correct values. However, if your external
  616. toolchain is based on <i>glibc</i>, you'll have to change these values
  617. according to your cross-compiling toolchain.</p>
  618. <p>To generate external toolchains, we recommend using <a
  619. href="http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/dokuwiki/projects/crosstool">Crosstool-NG</a>.
  620. It allows generating toolchains based on <i>uClibc</i>, <i>glibc</i>
  621. and <i>eglibc</i> for a wide range of architectures and has good
  622. community support.</p>
  623. <h2><a name="add_packages" id="add_packages"></a>Adding new
  624. packages to Buildroot</h2>
  625. <p>This section covers how new packages (userspace libraries or
  626. applications) can be integrated into Buildroot. It also allows to
  627. understand how existing packages are integrated, which is needed
  628. to fix issues or tune their configuration.</p>
  629. <ul>
  630. <li><a href="#package-directory">Package directory</a></li>
  631. <li><a href="#config-in-file"><code>Config.in</code> file</a></li>
  632. <li><a href="#mk-file">The <code>.mk</code> file</a>
  633. <ul>
  634. <li><a href="#generic-tutorial">Makefile for generic
  635. packages : tutorial</a></li>
  636. <li><a href="#generic-reference">Makefile for
  637. generic packages : reference</a></li>
  638. <li><a href="#autotools-tutorial">Makefile for autotools-based
  639. packages : tutorial</a></li>
  640. <li><a href="#autotools-reference">Makefile for autotools-based
  641. packages : reference</a></li>
  642. <li><a href="#manual-tutorial">Manual Makefile : tutorial</a></li>
  643. </ul>
  644. </li>
  645. </ul>
  646. <h3><a name="package-directory"></a>Package directory</h3>
  647. <p>First of all, create a directory under the <code>package</code>
  648. directory for your software, for example <code>foo</code>. </p>
  649. <p>Some packages have been grouped by topic in a sub-directory:
  650. <code>multimedia</code>, <code>java</code>,
  651. <code>databases</code>, <code>editors</code>, <code>x11r7</code>,
  652. <code>games</code>. If your package fits in one of these
  653. categories, then create your package directory in these.</p>
  654. <h3><a name="config-in-file"></a><code>Config.in</code> file</h3>
  655. <p>Then, create a file named <code>Config.in</code>. This file
  656. will contain the option descriptions related to our
  657. <code>libfoo</code> software that will be used and displayed in the
  658. configuration tool. It should basically contain :</p>
  659. <pre>
  660. config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO
  661. bool "libfoo"
  662. help
  663. This is a comment that explains what libfoo is.
  664. http://foosoftware.org/libfoo/
  665. </pre>
  666. <p>Of course, you can add other options to configure particular
  667. things in your software. You can look at examples in other
  668. packages. The syntax of the Config.in file is the same as the one
  669. for the kernel Kconfig file. The documentation for this syntax is
  670. available at <a
  671. href="http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt">http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt</a></p>
  672. <p>Finally you have to add your new <code>libfoo/Config.in</code> to
  673. <code>package/Config.in</code> (or in a category subdirectory if
  674. you decided to put your package in one of the existing
  675. categories). The files included there are <em>sorted
  676. alphabetically</em> per category and are <em>NOT</em> supposed to
  677. contain anything but the <em>bare</em> name of the package.</p>
  678. <pre>
  679. source "package/libfoo/Config.in"
  680. </pre>
  681. <h3><a name="mk-file"></a>The <code>.mk</code> file</h3>
  682. <p>Finally, here's the hardest part. Create a file named
  683. <code>foo.mk</code>. It describes how the package should be
  684. downloaded, configured, built, installed, etc.</p>
  685. <p>Depending on the package type, the <code>.mk</code> file must be
  686. written in a different way, using different infrastructures:</p>
  687. <ul>
  688. <li>Makefiles for generic packages (not using autotools), based
  689. on an infrastructure similar to the one used for autotools-based
  690. packages, but which requires a little more work from the
  691. developer : specify what should be done at for the configuration,
  692. compilation, installation and cleanup of the package. This
  693. infrastructure must be used for all packages that do not use the
  694. autotools as their build system. In the future, other specialized
  695. infrastructures might be written for other build systems.<br/>We
  696. cover them through a <a
  697. href="#generic-tutorial">tutorial</a> and a <a
  698. href="#generic-reference">reference</a>.</li>
  699. <li>Makefiles for autotools-based (autoconf, automake, etc.)
  700. softwares. We provide a dedicated infrastructure for such
  701. packages, since autotools is a very common build system. This
  702. infrastructure <i>must</i> be used for new packages that rely on
  703. the autotools as their build system.<br/>We cover them through a
  704. <a href="#autotools-tutorial">tutorial</a> and a <a
  705. href="#autotools-reference">reference</a>.</li>
  706. <li>Manual Makefiles. These are currently obsolete and no new
  707. manual Makefiles should be added. However, since there are still
  708. many of them in the tree and because the , we keep them documented in a <a
  709. href="#manual-tutorial">tutorial</a>.</li>
  710. </ul>
  711. <h4><a name="generic-tutorial"></a>Makefile for generic packages :
  712. tutorial</h4>
  713. <pre><tt><span style="color: #000000">01:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#############################################################</span></span>
  714. <span style="color: #000000">02:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#</span></span>
  715. <span style="color: #000000">03:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900"># libfoo</span></span>
  716. <span style="color: #000000">04:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#</span></span>
  717. <span style="color: #000000">05:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#############################################################</span></span>
  718. <span style="color: #000000">06:</span> <span style="color: #990000">LIBFOO_VERSION:=</span>1.0
  719. <span style="color: #000000">07:</span> <span style="color: #990000">LIBFOO_SOURCE:=</span>libfoo-<span style="color: #009900">$(LIBFOO_VERSION)</span>.tar.gz
  720. <span style="color: #000000">08:</span> <span style="color: #990000">LIBFOO_SITE:=</span>http<span style="color: #990000">:</span>//www.foosoftware.org/download
  721. <span style="color: #000000">09:</span> <span style="color: #009900">LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING=</span>YES
  722. <span style="color: #000000">10:</span> <span style="color: #009900">LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES =</span> host-libaaa libbbb
  723. <span style="color: #000000">11:</span>
  724. <span style="color: #000000">12:</span> define LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS
  725. <span style="color: #000000">13:</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(MAKE)</span> <span style="color: #009900">CC</span><span style="color: #990000">=</span><span style="color: #009900">$(TARGET_CC)</span> <span style="color: #009900">LD</span><span style="color: #990000">=</span><span style="color: #009900">$(TARGET_LD)</span> -C <span style="color: #009900">$(@D)</span> all
  726. <span style="color: #000000">14:</span> endef
  727. <span style="color: #000000">15:</span>
  728. <span style="color: #000000">16:</span> define LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS
  729. <span style="color: #000000">17:</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(INSTALL)</span> -D <span style="color: #009900">$(@D)</span>/libfoo.a <span style="color: #009900">$(STAGING_DIR)</span>/usr/lib/libfoo.a
  730. <span style="color: #000000">18:</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(INSTALL)</span> -D <span style="color: #009900">$(@D)</span>/foo.h <span style="color: #009900">$(STAGING_DIR)</span>/usr/include/foo.h
  731. <span style="color: #000000">19:</span> cp -dpf <span style="color: #009900">$(@D)</span>/libfoo.so<span style="color: #990000">*</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(STAGING_DIR)</span>/usr/lib
  732. <span style="color: #000000">20:</span> endef
  733. <span style="color: #000000">21:</span>
  734. <span style="color: #000000">22:</span> define LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
  735. <span style="color: #000000">23:</span> cp -dpf <span style="color: #009900">$(@D)</span>/libfoo.so<span style="color: #990000">*</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(TARGET_DIR)</span>/usr/lib
  736. <span style="color: #000000">24:</span> -<span style="color: #009900">$(STRIPCMP)</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(STRIP_STRIP_UNNEEDED)</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(TARGET_DIR)</span>/isr/lib/libfoo.so<span style="color: #990000">*</span>
  737. <span style="color: #000000">25:</span> endef
  738. <span style="color: #000000">26:</span>
  739. <span style="color: #000000">27:</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(</span><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="color: #0000FF">eval</span></span> <span style="color: #009900">$(</span>call GENTARGETS<span style="color: #990000">,</span>package<span style="color: #990000">,</span>libfoo<span style="color: #990000">))</span></tt></pre>
  740. <p>The Makefile begins on line 6 to 8 by metadata informations: the
  741. version of the package (<code>LIBFOO_VERSION</code>), the name of
  742. the tarball containing the package (<code>LIBFOO_SOURCE</code>) and
  743. the Internet location at which the tarball can be downloaded
  744. (<code>LIBFOO_SITE</code>). All variables must start with the same
  745. prefix, <code>LIBFOO_</code> in this case. This prefix is always
  746. the uppercased version of the package name (see below to understand
  747. where the package name is defined).</p>
  748. <p>On line 9, we specify that this package wants to install
  749. something to the staging space. This is often needed for libraries
  750. since they must install header files and other development files in
  751. the staging space. This will ensure that the commands listed in the
  752. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> variable will be
  753. executed.</p>
  754. <p>On line 10, we specify the list of dependencies this package
  755. relies on. These dependencies are listed in terms of lower-case
  756. package names, which can be packages for the target (without the
  757. <code>host-</code> prefix) or packages for the host (with the
  758. <code>host-</code>) prefix). Buildroot will ensure that all these
  759. packages are built and installed <i>before</i> the current package
  760. starts its configuration.</p>
  761. <p>The rest of the Makefile defines what should be done at the
  762. different steps of the package configuration, compilation and
  763. installation. <code>LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS</code> tells what steps
  764. should be performed to build the
  765. package. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> tells what steps
  766. should be performed to install the package in the staging
  767. space. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code> tells what steps
  768. should be performed to install the package in the target space.</p>
  769. <p>All these steps rely on the <code>$(@D)</code> variable, which
  770. contains the directory where the source code of the package has
  771. been extracted.</p>
  772. <p>Finally, on line 27, we call the <code>GENTARGETS</code> which
  773. generates, according to the variables defined previously, all the
  774. Makefile code necessary to make your package working.</p>
  775. <h4><a name="generic-reference"></a>Makefile for generic packages :
  776. reference</h4>
  777. <p>The <code>GENTARGETS</code> macro takes three arguments:</p>
  778. <ul>
  779. <li>The first argument is the package directory prefix. If your
  780. package is in <code>package/libfoo</code>, then the directory
  781. prefix is <code>package</code>. If your package is in
  782. <code>package/editors/foo</code>, then the directory prefix must
  783. be <code>package/editors</code>.</li>
  784. <li>The second argument is the lower-cased package name. It must
  785. match the prefix of the variables in the <code>.mk</code> file
  786. and must match the configuration option name in the
  787. <code>Config.in</code> file. For example, if the package name is
  788. <code>libfoo</code>, so the variables in the <code>.mk</code>
  789. must start with <code>LIBFOO_</code> and the configuration option
  790. in the <code>Config.in</code> file must be
  791. <code>BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO</code>.</li>
  792. <li>The third argument is optional. It can be used to tell if the
  793. package if a target package (cross-compiled for the target) or a
  794. host package (natively compiled for the host). If unspecified, it
  795. is assumed that it is a target package. See below for
  796. details.</li>
  797. </ul>
  798. <p>For a given package, in a single <code>.mk</code> file, it is
  799. possible to call GENTARGETS twice, once to create the rules to
  800. generate a target package and once to create the rules to generate
  801. a host package:</p>
  802. <pre>
  803. $(eval $(call GENTARGETS,package,libfoo))
  804. $(eval $(call GENTARGETS,package,libfoo,host))
  805. </pre>
  806. <p>This might be useful if the compilation of the target package
  807. requires some tools to be installed on the host. If the package
  808. name is <code>libfoo</code>, then the name of the package for the
  809. target is also <code>libfoo</code>, while the name of the package
  810. for the host is <code>host-libfoo</code>. These names should be
  811. used in the DEPENDENCIES variables of other packages if they depend
  812. on <code>libfoo</code> or <code>host-libfoo</code>.</p>
  813. <p>The call to the <code>GENTARGETS</code> macro <b>must</b> be at
  814. the end of the <code>.mk</code> file, after all variable
  815. definitions.</p>
  816. <p>For the target package, the <code>GENTARGETS</code> uses the
  817. variables defined by the .mk file and prefixed by the uppercased
  818. package name: <code>LIBFOO_*</code>. For target package, it uses
  819. the <code>HOST_LIBFOO_*</code>. For <i>some</i> variables, if the
  820. <code>HOST_LIBFOO_</code> prefixed variable doesn't exist, the
  821. package infrastructure uses the corresponding variable prefixed by
  822. <code>LIBFOO_</code>. This is done for variables that are likely to
  823. have the same value for both the target and host packages. See
  824. below for details.</p>
  825. <p>The list of variables that can be set in a <code>.mk</code> file
  826. to give metadata informations is (assuming the package name is
  827. <code>libfoo</code>) :</p>
  828. <ul>
  829. <li><code>LIBFOO_VERSION</code>, mandatory, must contain the
  830. version of the package. Note that if
  831. <code>HOST_LIBFOO_VERSION</code> doesn't exist, it is assumed to
  832. be the same as <code>LIBFOO_VERSION</code>.<br/>Example:
  833. <code>LIBFOO_VERSION=0.1.2</code></li>
  834. <li><code>LIBFOO_SOURCE</code> may contain the name of the
  835. tarball of the package. If <code>HOST_LIBFOO_SOURCE</code> is not
  836. specified, it defaults to <code>LIBFOO_VERSION</code>. If none
  837. are specified, then the value is assumed to be
  838. <code>packagename-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz</code>.<br/>Example:
  839. <code>LIBFOO_SOURCE =
  840. foobar-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.bz2</code></li>
  841. <li><code>LIBFOO_PATCH</code> may contain the name of a patch,
  842. that will be downloaded from the same location as the tarball
  843. indicated in <code>LIBFOO_SOURCE</code>. If
  844. <code>HOST_LIBFOO_PATCH</code> is not specified, it defaults to
  845. <code>LIBFOO_PATCH</code>. Also note that another mechanism is
  846. available to patch a package: all files of the form
  847. <code>packagename-packageversion-description.patch</code> present
  848. in the package directory inside Buildroot will be applied to the
  849. package after extraction.</li>
  850. <li><code>LIBFOO_SITE</code> may contain the Internet location of
  851. the tarball of the package. If <code>HOST_LIBFOO_SITE</code> is
  852. not specified, it defaults to <code>LIBFOO_SITE</code>. If none
  853. are specified, then the location is assumed to be
  854. <code>http://$$(BR2_SOURCEFORGE_MIRROR).dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/packagename</code>.<br/>Example:
  855. <code>LIBFOO_SITE=http://www.foosoftware.org/libfoo</code>.</li>
  856. <li><code>LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependencies (in
  857. terms of package name) that are required for the current target
  858. package to compile. These dependencies are guaranteed to be
  859. compiled and installed before the configuration of the current
  860. package starts. In a similar way,
  861. <code>HOST_LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code> lists the dependency for
  862. the current host package.</li>
  863. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING</code> can be set to
  864. <code>YES</code> or <code>NO</code> (default). If set to
  865. <code>YES</code>, then the commands in the
  866. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code> variables are executed
  867. to install the package into the staging directory.</p>
  868. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET</code> can be set to
  869. <code>YES</code> (default) or <code>NO</code>. If set to
  870. <code>YES</code>, then the commands in the
  871. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code> variables are executed
  872. to install the package into the target directory.</p>
  873. </ul>
  874. <p>The recommended way to define these variables is to use the
  875. following syntax:</p>
  876. <pre>
  877. LIBFOO_VERSION=2.32
  878. </pre>
  879. <p>Now, the variables that define what should be performed at the
  880. different steps of the build process.</p>
  881. <ul>
  882. <li><code>LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS</code>, used to list the
  883. actions to be performed to configure the package before its
  884. compilation</li>
  885. <li><code>LIBFOO_BUILD_CMDS</code>, used to list the actions to
  886. be performed to compile the package</li>
  887. <li><code>HOST_LIBFOO_INSTALL_CMDS</code>, used to list the
  888. actions to be performed to install the package, when the
  889. package is a host package. The package must install its files
  890. to the directory given by <code>$(HOST_DIR)</code>. All files,
  891. including development files such as headers should be
  892. installed, since other packages might be compiled on top of
  893. this package.</li>
  894. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code>, used to list the
  895. actions to be performed to install the package to the target
  896. directory, when the package is a target package. The package
  897. must install its files to the directory given by
  898. <code>$(TARGET_DIR)</code>. Only the files required for
  899. <i>execution</i> of the package should be installed. Header
  900. files and documentation should not be installed.</li>
  901. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code>, used to list the
  902. actions to be performed to install the package to the staging
  903. directory, when the package is a target package. The package
  904. must install its files to the directory given by
  905. <code>$(STAGING_DIR)</code>. All development files should be
  906. installed, since they might be needed to compile other
  907. packages.</li>
  908. <li><code>LIBFOO_CLEAN_CMDS</code>, used to list the actions to
  909. perform to clean up the build directory of the package.</li>
  910. <li><code>LIBFOO_UNINSTALL_TARGET_CMDS</code>, used to list the
  911. actions to uninstall the package from the target directory
  912. <code>$(TARGET_DIR)</code></li>
  913. <li><code>LIBFOO_UNINSTALL_STAGING_CMDS</code></li>, used to
  914. list the actions to uninstall the package from the staging
  915. directory <code>$(STAGING_DIR)</code>.</li>
  916. </ul>
  917. <p>The preferred way to define these variables is:</p>
  918. <pre>
  919. define LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS
  920. action 1
  921. action 2
  922. action 3
  923. endef</pre>
  924. <p>In the action definitions, you can use the following
  925. variables:</p>
  926. <ul>
  927. <li><code>$(@D)</code>, which contains the directory in which
  928. the package source code has been uncompressed.</li>
  929. <li><code>$(TARGET_CC)</code>, <code>$(TARGET_LD)</code>,
  930. etc. to get the target cross-compilation utilities</li>
  931. <li><code>$(TARGET_CROSS)</code> to get the cross-compilation
  932. toolchain prefix</li>
  933. <li>Of course the <code>$(HOST_DIR)</code>,
  934. <code>$(STAGING_DIR)</code> and <code>$(TARGET_DIR)</code>
  935. variables to install the packages properly.</li>
  936. </ul>
  937. <p>The last feature of the generic infrastructure is the ability
  938. to add hook more actions after existing steps. These hooks aren't
  939. really useful for generic packages, since the <code>.mk</code>
  940. file already has full control over the actions performed in each
  941. step of the package construction. The hooks are more useful for
  942. packages using the autotools infrastructure described below. But
  943. since they are provided by the generic infrastructure, they are
  944. documented here.</p>
  945. <p>The following hook points are available:</p>
  946. <ul>
  947. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_HOOKS</code></li>
  948. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_CONFIGURE_HOOKS</code></li>
  949. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_BUILD_HOOKS</code></li>
  950. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_HOOKS</code> (for host packages only)</li>
  951. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_STAGING_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)</li>
  952. <li><code>LIBFOO_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS</code> (for target packages only)</li>
  953. </ul>
  954. <p>This variables are <i>lists</i> of variable names containing
  955. actions to be performed at this hook point. This allows several
  956. hooks to be registered at a given hook point. Here is an
  957. example:</p>
  958. <pre>
  959. define LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_FIXUP
  960. action1
  961. action2
  962. endef
  963. LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_HOOKS += LIBFOO_POST_PATCH_FIXUP
  964. </pre>
  965. <h4><a name="autotools-tutorial"></a>Makefile for autotools-based
  966. packages : tutorial</h4>
  967. <p>First, let's see how to write a <code>.mk</code> file for an
  968. autotools-based package, with an example&nbsp;:</p>
  969. <pre><tt><span style="color: #000000">01:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#############################################################</span></span>
  970. <span style="color: #000000">02:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#</span></span>
  971. <span style="color: #000000">03:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900"># foo</span></span>
  972. <span style="color: #000000">04:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#</span></span>
  973. <span style="color: #000000">05:</span> <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #9A1900">#############################################################</span></span>
  974. <span style="color: #000000">06:</span>
  975. <span style="color: #000000">07:</span> <span style="color: #990000">FOO_VERSION:=</span>1.0
  976. <span style="color: #000000">08:</span> <span style="color: #990000">FOO_SOURCE:=</span>foo-<span style="color: #009900">$(FOO_VERSION)</span>.tar.gz
  977. <span style="color: #000000">09:</span> <span style="color: #990000">FOO_SITE:=</span>http<span style="color: #990000">:</span>//www.foosoftware.org/downloads
  978. <span style="color: #000000">10:</span> <span style="color: #009900">FOO_INSTALL_STAGING =</span> YES
  979. <span style="color: #000000">11:</span> <span style="color: #009900">FOO_INSTALL_TARGET =</span> YES
  980. <span style="color: #000000">12:</span> <span style="color: #009900">FOO_CONF_OPT =</span> --enable-shared
  981. <span style="color: #000000">13:</span> <span style="color: #009900">FOO_DEPENDENCIES =</span> libglib2 host-pkg-config
  982. <span style="color: #000000">14:</span>
  983. <span style="color: #000000">15:</span> <span style="color: #009900">$(</span><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="color: #0000FF">eval</span></span> <span style="color: #009900">$(</span>call AUTOTARGETS<span style="color: #990000">,</span>package<span style="color: #990000">,</span>foo<span style="color: #990000">))</span></tt></pre>
  984. <p>On line 7, we declare the version of the package. On line 8 and
  985. 9, we declare the name of the tarball and the location of the
  986. tarball on the Web. Buildroot will automatically download the
  987. tarball from this location.</p>
  988. <p>On line 10, we tell Buildroot to install the package to the
  989. staging directory. The staging directory, located in
  990. <code>output/staging/</code> is the directory where all the
  991. packages are installed, including their development files, etc. By
  992. default, packages are not installed to the staging directory,
  993. since usually, only libraries need to be installed in the staging
  994. directory: their development files are needed to compile other
  995. libraries or applications depending on them. Also by default, when
  996. staging installation is enabled, packages are installed in this
  997. location using the <code>make install</code> command.</p>
  998. <p>On line 11, we tell Buildroot to also install the package to
  999. the target directory. This directory contains what will become the
  1000. root filesystem running on the target. Usually, we try not to
  1001. install the documentation and to install stripped versions of the
  1002. binary. By default, target installation is enabled, so in fact,
  1003. this line is not strictly necessary. Also by default, packages are
  1004. installed in this location using the <code>make
  1005. install-strip</code> command.</p>
  1006. <p>On line 12, we tell Buildroot to pass a custom configure
  1007. option, that will be passed to the <code>./configure</code> script
  1008. before configuring and building the package.</p>
  1009. <p>On line 13, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
  1010. before the build process of our package starts.</p>
  1011. <p>Finally, on line line 14, we invoke the
  1012. <code>AUTOTARGETS</code> macro that generates all the Makefile
  1013. rules that actually allows the package to be built.</p>
  1014. <h4><a name="autotools-reference"></a>Makefile for autotools
  1015. packages : reference</h4>
  1016. <p>The main macro of the autotools package infrastructure is
  1017. <code>AUTOTARGETS</code>. It has the same number of arguments and
  1018. the same semantic as the <code>GENTARGETS</code> macro, which is
  1019. the main macro of the generic package infrastructure. For
  1020. autotools packages, the ability to have target and host packages
  1021. is also available (and is actually widely used).</p>
  1022. <p>Just like the generic infrastructure, the autotools
  1023. infrastructure works by defining a number of variables before
  1024. calling the <code>AUTOTARGETS</code> macro.</p>
  1025. <p>First, all the package meta-information variables that exist in
  1026. the generic infrastructure also exist in the autotools
  1027. infrastructure: <code>LIBFOO_VERSION</code>,
  1028. <code>LIBFOO_SOURCE</code>, <code>LIBFOO_PATCH</code>,
  1029. <code>LIBFOO_SITE</code>, <code>LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code>,
  1030. <code>LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES</code>,
  1031. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING</code>,
  1032. <code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET</code>.</p>
  1033. <p>A few additional variables, specific to the autotools
  1034. infrastructure, can also be defined. Many of them are only useful
  1035. in very specific cases, typical packages will therefore only use a
  1036. few of them.</p>
  1037. <ul>
  1038. <li><code>LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> may contain the name of a
  1039. subdirectory inside the package that contains the configure
  1040. script. This is useful, if for example, the main configure
  1041. script is not at the root of the tree extracted by the
  1042. tarball. If <code>HOST_LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code> is not specified, it
  1043. defaults to <code>LIBFOO_SUBDIR</code>.</li>
  1044. <li><code>LIBFOO_CONF_ENV</code>, to specify additional
  1045. environment variables to pass to the configure script. By
  1046. default, empty.</li>
  1047. <li><code>LIBFOO_CONF_OPT</code>, to specify additional
  1048. configure options to pass to the configure script. By default,
  1049. empty.</li>
  1050. <li><code>LIBFOO_MAKE</code>, to specify an
  1051. alternate <code>make</code> command. This is typically useful
  1052. when parallel make it enabled in the configuration
  1053. (using <code>BR2_JLEVEL</code>) but that this feature should be
  1054. disabled for the given package, for one reason or another. By
  1055. default, set to <code>$(MAKE)</code>. If parallel building is
  1056. not supported by the package, then it should
  1057. do <code>LIBFOO_MAKE=$(MAKE1)</code>.</li>
  1058. <li><code>LIBFOO_MAKE_ENV</code>, to specify additional
  1059. environment variables to pass to make in the build step. These
  1060. are passed before the <code>make</code> command. By default,
  1061. empty.</li>
  1062. <li><code>LIBFOO_MAKE_OPT</code>, to specify additional
  1063. variables to pass to make in the build step. These are passed
  1064. after the <code>make</code> command. By default, empty.</li>
  1065. <li><code>LIBFOO_AUTORECONF</code>, tells whether the package
  1066. should be autoreconfigured or not (i.e, if the configure script
  1067. and Makefile.in files should be re-generated by re-running
  1068. autoconf, automake, libtool, etc.). Valid values
  1069. are <code>YES</code> and <code>NO</code>. By default, the value
  1070. is <code>NO</code></li>
  1071. <li><code>LIBFOO_AUTORECONF_OPT</code> to specify additional
  1072. options passed to the <i>autoreconf</i> program
  1073. if <code>LIBFOO_AUTORECONF=YES</code>. By default, empty.</li>
  1074. <li><code>LIBFOO_LIBTOOL_PATCH</code> tells whether the
  1075. Buildroot patch to fix libtool cross-compilation issues should
  1076. be applied or not. Valid values are <code>YES</code>
  1077. and <code>NO</code>. By default, the value
  1078. is <code>YES</code></li>
  1079. <li><code>LIBFOO_USE_CONFIG_CACHE</code> tells whether the
  1080. configure script should really on a cache file that caches test
  1081. results from previous configure script. Usually, this variable
  1082. should be left to its default value. Only for specific packages
  1083. having issues with the configure cache can set this variable to
  1084. the <code>NO</code> value (but this is more a work-around than a
  1085. really fix)</li>
  1086. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING_OPT</code> contains the make
  1087. options used to install the package to the staging directory. By
  1088. default, the value is <code>DESTDIR=$$(STAGING_DIR)
  1089. install</code>, which is correct for most autotools packages. It
  1090. is still possible to override it.</li>
  1091. <li><code>LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET_OPT</code> contains the make
  1092. options used to install the package to the target directory. By
  1093. default, the value is <code>DESTDIR=$$(TARGET_DIR)
  1094. install-strip</code> if <code>BR2_ENABLE_DEBUG</code> is not
  1095. set, and <code>DESTDIR=$$(TARGET_DIR) install-exec</code>
  1096. if <code>BR2_ENABLE_DEBUG</code> is set. These default values
  1097. are correct for most autotools packages, but it is still
  1098. possible to override them if needed.</li>
  1099. <li><code>LIBFOO_CLEAN_OPT</code> contains the make options used
  1100. to clean the package. By default, the value
  1101. is <code>clean</code>.</li>
  1102. <li><code>LIBFOO_UNINSTALL_STAGING_OPT</code>, contains the make
  1103. options used to uninstall the package from the staging
  1104. directory. By default, the value is
  1105. <code>DESTDIR=$$(STAGING_DIR) uninstall</code>.</li>
  1106. <li><code>LIBFOO_UNINSTALL_TARGET_OPT</code>, contains the make
  1107. options used to uninstall the package from the target
  1108. directory. By default, the value is
  1109. <code>DESTDIR=$$(TARGET_DIR) uninstall</code>.</li>
  1110. </ul>
  1111. <p>With the autotools infrastructure, all the steps required to
  1112. build and install the packages are already defined, and they
  1113. generally work well for most autotools-based packages. However,
  1114. when required, it is still possible to customize what is done in
  1115. particular step:</p>
  1116. <ul>
  1117. <li>By adding a post-operation hook (after extract, patch,
  1118. configure, build or install). See the reference documentation of
  1119. the generic infrastructure for details.</li>
  1120. <li>By overriding one of the steps. For example, even if the
  1121. autotools infrastructure is used, if the package
  1122. <code>.mk</code> defines its own
  1123. <code>LIBFOO_CONFIGURE_CMDS</code> variable, it will be used
  1124. instead of the default autotools one. However, using this method
  1125. should be restricted to very specific cases. Do not use it in
  1126. the general case.</li>
  1127. </ul>
  1128. <h4><a name="manual-tutorial"></a>Manual Makefile : tutorial</h4>
  1129. <p><b>NOTE: new manual makefiles should not be created, and
  1130. existing manual makefiles should be converted either to the
  1131. generic infrastructure or the autotools infrastructure. This
  1132. section is only kept to document the existing manual makefiles and
  1133. help understanding how they work.</b></p>
  1134. <pre>
  1135. <a name="ex2line1" id="ex2line1">1</a> #############################################################
  1136. <a name="ex2line2" id="ex2line2">2</a> #
  1137. <a name="ex2line3" id="ex2line3">3</a> # foo
  1138. <a name="ex2line4" id="ex2line4">4</a> #
  1139. <a name="ex2line5" id="ex2line5">5</a> #############################################################
  1140. <a name="ex2line6" id="ex2line6">6</a> FOO_VERSION:=1.0
  1141. <a name="ex2line7" id="ex2line7">7</a> FOO_SOURCE:=foo-$(FOO_VERSION).tar.gz
  1142. <a name="ex2line8" id="ex2line8">8</a> FOO_SITE:=http://www.foosoftware.org/downloads
  1143. <a name="ex2line9" id="ex2line9">9</a> FOO_DIR:=$(BUILD_DIR)/foo-$(FOO_VERSION)
  1144. <a name="ex2line10" id="ex2line10">10</a> FOO_BINARY:=foo
  1145. <a name="ex2line11" id="ex2line11">11</a> FOO_TARGET_BINARY:=usr/bin/foo
  1146. <a name="ex2line12" id="ex2line12">12</a>
  1147. <a name="ex2line13" id="ex2line13">13</a> $(DL_DIR)/$(FOO_SOURCE):
  1148. <a name="ex2line14" id="ex2line14">14</a> $(call DOWNLOAD,$(FOO_SITE),$(FOO_SOURCE))
  1149. <a name="ex2line15" id="ex2line15">15</a>
  1150. <a name="ex2line16" id="ex2line16">16</a> $(FOO_DIR)/.source: $(DL_DIR)/$(FOO_SOURCE)
  1151. <a name="ex2line17" id="ex2line17">17</a> $(ZCAT) $(DL_DIR)/$(FOO_SOURCE) | tar -C $(BUILD_DIR) $(TAR_OPTIONS) -
  1152. <a name="ex2line18" id="ex2line18">18</a> touch $@
  1153. <a name="ex2line19" id="ex2line19">19</a>
  1154. <a name="ex2line20" id="ex2line20">20</a> $(FOO_DIR)/.configured: $(FOO_DIR)/.source
  1155. <a name="ex2line21" id="ex2line21">21</a> (cd $(FOO_DIR); rm -rf config.cache; \
  1156. <a name="ex2line22" id="ex2line22">22</a> $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
  1157. <a name="ex2line23" id="ex2line23">23</a> $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_ARGS) \
  1158. <a name="ex2line24" id="ex2line24">24</a> ./configure \
  1159. <a name="ex2line25" id="ex2line25">25</a> --target=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
  1160. <a name="ex2line26" id="ex2line26">26</a> --host=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
  1161. <a name="ex2line27" id="ex2line27">27</a> --build=$(GNU_HOST_NAME) \
  1162. <a name="ex2line28" id="ex2line28">28</a> --prefix=/usr \
  1163. <a name="ex2line29" id="ex2line29">29</a> --sysconfdir=/etc \
  1164. <a name="ex2line30" id="ex2line30">30</a> )
  1165. <a name="ex2line31" id="ex2line31">31</a> touch $@
  1166. <a name="ex2line32" id="ex2line32">32</a>
  1167. <a name="ex2line33" id="ex2line33">33</a> $(FOO_DIR)/$(FOO_BINARY): $(FOO_DIR)/.configured
  1168. <a name="ex2line34" id="ex2line34">34</a> $(MAKE) CC=$(TARGET_CC) -C $(FOO_DIR)
  1169. <a name="ex2line35" id="ex2line35">35</a>
  1170. <a name="ex2line36" id="ex2line36">36</a> $(TARGET_DIR)/$(FOO_TARGET_BINARY): $(FOO_DIR)/$(FOO_BINARY)
  1171. <a name="ex2line37" id="ex2line37">37</a> $(MAKE) DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) -C $(FOO_DIR) install-strip
  1172. <a name="ex2line38" id="ex2line38">38</a> rm -Rf $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/man
  1173. <a name="ex2line39" id="ex2line39">39</a>
  1174. <a name="ex2line40" id="ex2line40">40</a> foo: uclibc ncurses $(TARGET_DIR)/$(FOO_TARGET_BINARY)
  1175. <a name="ex2line41" id="ex2line41">41</a>
  1176. <a name="ex2line42" id="ex2line42">42</a> foo-source: $(DL_DIR)/$(FOO_SOURCE)
  1177. <a name="ex2line43" id="ex2line43">43</a>
  1178. <a name="ex2line44" id="ex2line44">44</a> foo-clean:
  1179. <a name="ex2line45" id="ex2line45">45</a> $(MAKE) prefix=$(TARGET_DIR)/usr -C $(FOO_DIR) uninstall
  1180. <a name="ex2line46" id="ex2line46">46</a> -$(MAKE) -C $(FOO_DIR) clean
  1181. <a name="ex2line47" id="ex2line47">47</a>
  1182. <a name="ex2line48" id="ex2line48">48</a> foo-dirclean:
  1183. <a name="ex2line49" id="ex2line49">49</a> rm -rf $(FOO_DIR)
  1184. <a name="ex2line50" id="ex2line50">50</a>
  1185. <a name="ex2line51" id="ex2line51">51</a> #############################################################
  1186. <a name="ex2line52" id="ex2line52">52</a> #
  1187. <a name="ex2line53" id="ex2line53">53</a> # Toplevel Makefile options
  1188. <a name="ex2line54" id="ex2line54">54</a> #
  1189. <a name="ex2line55" id="ex2line55">55</a> #############################################################
  1190. <a name="ex2line56" id="ex2line56">56</a> ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_FOO),y)
  1191. <a name="ex2line57" id="ex2line57">57</a> TARGETS+=foo
  1192. <a name="ex2line58" id="ex2line58">58</a> endif
  1193. </pre>
  1194. <p>First of all, this Makefile example works for a package which comprises a single
  1195. binary executable. For other software, such as libraries or more
  1196. complex stuff with multiple binaries, it must be adapted. For examples look at
  1197. the other <code>*.mk</code> files in the <code>package</code>
  1198. directory. </p>
  1199. <p>At lines <a href="#ex2line6">6-11</a>, a couple of useful variables are
  1200. defined:</p>
  1201. <ul>
  1202. <li><code>FOO_VERSION</code>: The version of <i>foo</i> that
  1203. should be downloaded. </li>
  1204. <li><code>FOO_SOURCE</code>: The name of the tarball of
  1205. <i>foo</i> on the download website or FTP site. As you can see
  1206. <code>FOO_VERSION</code> is used. </li>
  1207. <li><code>FOO_SITE</code>: The HTTP or FTP site from which
  1208. <i>foo</i> archive is downloaded. It must include the complete
  1209. path to the directory where <code>FOO_SOURCE</code> can be
  1210. found. </li>
  1211. <li><code>FOO_DIR</code>: The directory into which the software
  1212. will be configured and compiled. Basically, it's a subdirectory
  1213. of <code>BUILD_DIR</code> which is created upon decompression of
  1214. the tarball. </li>
  1215. <li><code>FOO_BINARY</code>: Software binary name. As said
  1216. previously, this is an example for a package with a single binary.</li>
  1217. <li><code>FOO_TARGET_BINARY</code>: The full path of the binary
  1218. inside the target filesystem. </li>
  1219. </ul>
  1220. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line13">13-14</a> define a target that downloads the
  1221. tarball from the remote site to the download directory
  1222. (<code>DL_DIR</code>). </p>
  1223. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line16">16-18</a> define a target and associated rules
  1224. that uncompress the downloaded tarball. As you can see, this target
  1225. depends on the tarball file so that the previous target (lines
  1226. <a href="#ex2line13">13-14</a>) is called before executing the rules of the
  1227. current target. Uncompressing is followed by <i>touching</i> a hidden file
  1228. to mark the software as having been uncompressed. This trick is
  1229. used everywhere in a Buildroot Makefile to split steps
  1230. (download, uncompress, configure, compile, install) while still
  1231. having correct dependencies. </p>
  1232. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line20">20-31</a> define a target and associated rules
  1233. that configure the software. It depends on the previous target (the
  1234. hidden <code>.source</code> file) so that we are sure the software has
  1235. been uncompressed. In order to configure the package, it basically runs the
  1236. well-known <code>./configure</code> script. As we may be doing
  1237. cross-compilation, <code>target</code>, <code>host</code> and
  1238. <code>build</code> arguments are given. The prefix is also set to
  1239. <code>/usr</code>, not because the software will be installed in
  1240. <code>/usr</code> on your host system, but because the software will
  1241. bin installed in <code>/usr</code> on the target
  1242. filesystem. Finally it creates a <code>.configured</code> file to
  1243. mark the software as configured. </p>
  1244. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line33">33-34</a> define a target and a rule that
  1245. compile the software. This target will create the binary file in the
  1246. compilation directory and depends on the software being already
  1247. configured (hence the reference to the <code>.configured</code>
  1248. file). It basically runs <code>make</code> inside the source
  1249. directory. </p>
  1250. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line36">36-38</a> define a target and associated rules
  1251. that install the software inside the target filesystem. They depend on the
  1252. binary file in the source directory to make sure the software has
  1253. been compiled. They use the <code>install-strip</code> target of the
  1254. software <code>Makefile</code> by passing a <code>DESTDIR</code>
  1255. argument so that the <code>Makefile</code> doesn't try to install
  1256. the software in the host <code>/usr</code> but rather in the target
  1257. <code>/usr</code>. After the installation, the
  1258. <code>/usr/man</code> directory inside the target filesystem is
  1259. removed to save space. </p>
  1260. <p>Line <a href="#ex2line40">40</a> defines the main target of the software &mdash;
  1261. the one that will be eventually be used by the top level
  1262. <code>Makefile</code> to download, compile, and then install
  1263. this package. This target should first of all depend on all
  1264. needed dependencies of the software (in our example,
  1265. <i>uclibc</i> and <i>ncurses</i>) and also depend on the
  1266. final binary. This last dependency will call all previous
  1267. dependencies in the correct order. </p>
  1268. <p>Line <a href="#ex2line42">42</a> defines a simple target that only
  1269. downloads the code source. This is not used during normal operation of
  1270. Buildroot, but is needed if you intend to download all required sources at
  1271. once for later offline build. Note that if you add a new package providing
  1272. a <code>foo-source</code> target is <i>mandatory</i> to support
  1273. users that wish to do offline-builds. Furthermore it eases checking
  1274. if all package-sources are downloadable. </p>
  1275. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line44">44-46</a> define a simple target to clean the
  1276. software build by calling the Makefiles with the appropriate option.
  1277. The <code>-clean</code> target should run <code>make clean</code>
  1278. on $(BUILD_DIR)/package-version and MUST uninstall all files of the
  1279. package from $(STAGING_DIR) and from $(TARGET_DIR). </p>
  1280. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line48">48-49</a> define a simple target to completely
  1281. remove the directory in which the software was uncompressed, configured and
  1282. compiled. The <code>-dirclean</code> target MUST completely rm $(BUILD_DIR)/
  1283. package-version. </p>
  1284. <p>Lines <a href="#ex2line51">51-58</a> add the target <code>foo</code> to
  1285. the list of targets to be compiled by Buildroot by first checking if
  1286. the configuration option for this package has been enabled
  1287. using the configuration tool. If so, it then &quot;subscribes&quot;
  1288. this package to be compiled by adding the package to the TARGETS
  1289. global variable. The name added to the TARGETS global
  1290. variable is the name of this package's target, as defined on
  1291. line <a href="#ex2line40">40</a>, which is used by Buildroot to download,
  1292. compile, and then install this package. </p>
  1293. <h3>Conclusion</h3>
  1294. <p>As you can see, adding a software package to Buildroot is simply a
  1295. matter of writing a Makefile using an existing
  1296. example and modifying it according to the compilation process required by
  1297. the package. </p>
  1298. <p>If you package software that might be useful for other people,
  1299. don't forget to send a patch to Buildroot developers!</p>
  1300. <h2><a name="links" id="links"></a>Resources</h2>
  1301. <p>To learn more about Buildroot you can visit these
  1302. websites:</p>
  1303. <ul>
  1304. <li><a href="http://www.uclibc.org/">http://www.uclibc.org/</a></li>
  1305. <li><a href="http://www.busybox.net/">http://www.busybox.net/</a></li>
  1306. </ul>
  1307. </div>
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