5. PTXdist Reference¶

5.1. Variables Reference¶

The following variables are provided by PTXdist to simplify creating rule files. Every developer should use these variables in every single line in the rule file to avoid any further adaption when external paths are changed.

To get their content related to the current project, we can simply run a:

$ ptxdist print PTXDIST_TOPDIR
/usr/local/lib/ptxdist-2018.07.0

Replace the PTXDIST_TOPDIR with one of the other generic variables PTXdist provides.

Global Variables¶

PTXDIST_TOPDIR: Points always to the installation directory of PTXdist.
PTXDIST_WORKSPACE: Everything that references PTXDIST_WORKSPACE will use the active projects’s folder.
PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS: PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS points to a directory tree all cross relevant executables, libraries and header files are installed to in the current project. All of the project’s packages built for the host to create data for the target are searching in this directory tree for their dependencies (executables, header and library files). Use $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS)/bin to install executables, $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS)/include for header files and $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS)/lib for libraries.
PTXDIST_SYSROOT_HOST: PTXDIST_SYSROOT_HOST points to a directory tree all host relevant executables, libraries and header files are installed to. All project’s packages built for the host are searching in this directory tree for their dependencies (executables, header and library files). Use $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_HOST)/bin to install executables, $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_HOST)/include for header files and $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_HOST)/lib for libraries.
PTXDIST_SYSROOT_TARGET: PTXDIST_SYSROOT_TARGET points to a directory tree all target relevant libraries and header files are installed to. All project’s packages built for the target are searching in this directory tree for their dependencies (header and library files). These files are for compile time only (for example to link a target executable against a target library), not for run-time! Use $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_TARGET)/include for header files and $(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_TARGET)/lib for libraries.

Other useful variables:

CROSS_PATH

Use to find cross tools. This path must be used to create anything that depends on the target’s architecture, but needs something running on the host to do the job. Examples:

Creating a UBI image from the target’s root filesystem: This will need a tool running on the host, but it will create data or code that runs on or is used on the target
Building a library for the target: If this library needs other resources to be built (other libraries) its configure finds the right information in this path.

HOST_PATH

Used to find host tools. This path must be used to create anything that doesn’t depend on the architecture.

ROOTDIR

ROOTDIR points to the root of the target’s root filesystem in the current project. Used in very rare cases (to create strange packages based on data in target’s root filesystem for example).

PTXCONF_PLATFORM

PTXCONF_PLATFORM expands to the name of the currently selected platform. This name is used in various file names and paths.

PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX

PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX expands to the name of the currently selected platform, but with a leading dot. This is used in various files PTXdist should search for.

PTXDIST_PLATFORMCONFIGDIR

PTXDIST_PLATFORMCONFIGDIR points to the directory tree of the currently selected platform. This path is used in various search functions.

PTXDIST_PLATFORMDIR

PTXDIST_PLATFORMDIR points to the directory build tree of the currently selected platform.

Package Specific Variables¶

For the following variables <PKG> is a placeholder for the package name. It is also the Kconfig symbol name (without the PTXCONF_ prefix).

Package Definition¶

<PKG>

This is the name of the package including version. For most packages, this is the name of the source archive (without suffix) and the source directory. PTXdist will search for patches in a directory with this name. This is usually defined as <name>-$(<PKG>_VERSION). This variable is required for most packages. The only exception are packages that only install some files in the targetinstall stage (e.g. from projectroot/).

<PKG>_VERSION

The version of the package. It is used as the version for the ipk packages. As such, it is required for all packages that create such packages. Most target packages fall in this category.

<PKG>_MD5

The md5 checksum of the source archive. PTXdist calculates the checksum before extracting the archive and will abort if does not match. Upstream project occasionally change the content of an archive without releasing a new version. This check helps to ensure that all developers work with the same source code.

<PKG>_SUFFIX

The archive suffix without the leading ‘.’, e.g. ‘tar.gz’ or ‘zip’. This is only used locally to define <PKG>_URL and <PKG>_SOURCE.

<PKG>_URL

This is the download URL for the source archive. It is a space separated list of URLs. PTXdist will try each URL until it finds one that works. There are two main reasons to provide more than one URL: 1. Additional mirror(s) in case the main location is unavailable. 2. Some projects move old versions into a separate directory when a new version is released. Providing both versions of the URL ensures that PTXdist still has a working URL after the next upstream release.

URLs can have options. Options are appended to the URL separated by ‘;’. For normal downloads the following options are supported:

no-check-certificate to indicate that SSL certificate checking should be disabled.

no-proxy to disable any configured proxy.

cookie:<value> to specify a cookie that should be sent.

Files in the local filesystem can be addressed with file:// URLs. In this case, the URL can also point to a directory. In this case <PKG>_DIR will be a symlink to the specified directory. ‘lndir://’ can be used to create a shadow copy instead. For locations inside the BSP the URL should use $(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE) to define the correct absolute path.

If no source archive is available, PTXdist can get the source from revision control systems. ‘git’ and ‘svn’ are currently supported. Note that this cannot be used to follow a branch! PTXdist will create the archive defined <PKG>_SOURCE and use it if available.

Git URLs must either start with ‘git://’ or end with ‘.git’. They have a mandatory tag=<tagname> option. Refer Working with GIT sources how to make use of it.

Svn URLs must start with ‘svn://’. They have a mandatory rev=r<number> option.

<PKG>_SOURCE

The location of the downloaded source archive. There should be no reason to set this to anything other than $(SRCDIR)/$(<PKG>).$(<PKG>_SUFFIX).

For local URLs (file:// or lndir://) <PKG>_SOURCE must not be set.

<PKG>_DIR

This is the directory where the source archive is extracted. In most cases this is set to $(BUILDDIR)/$(<PKG>). However, if two packages use the same source archive, then something else must be used to make sure that they use different directories. See the rules for ‘gdb’ and ‘gdbserver’ for an example.

<PKG>_LICENSE

The license of the package. The SPDX license identifiers should be used here. Use proprietary for proprietary packages and ignore for packages without their own license, e.g. meta packages or packages that only install files from projectroot/.

<PKG>_LICENSE_FILES

A space separated list of URLs of license text files. The URLs must be file:// URLs relative to <PKG>_DIR. Absolute URLs using $(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE) can be used in case the license text is missing in the upstream archive. Arguments are appended with ‘;’ as separator. The md5=<md5sum> argument is mandatory. It defines the md5 checksum of the full license text. startline=<number>;endline=<number> can be used in case the specified file contains more than just the license text, e.g. if the license is in the header of a source file. For non ASCII or UTF-8 files the encoding can be specified with encoding=<enc>.

For most packages the variables described above are undefined by default. However, for cross and host packages these variables default to the value of the corresponding target package if it exists.

<PKG>_CONFIG

This variable specifies a configuration file of some kind for the packages. For packages with <PKG>_CONF_TOOL set to kconfig the variable must specify an absolute path to the kconfig file. For image packages that use genimage, PTXdist will look for config/images/$(<PKG>_CONFIG) in the BSP and PTXdist in the usual search order.

<PKG>_STRIP_LEVEL

When PTXdist extracts source archives, it will create <PKG>_DIR first and then extracts the archive there. If <PKG>_STRIP_LEVEL is set to 1 (the default) then PTXdist removes the first directory level defined inside the archive. For most packages that this is the same as just extracting the archive. However, this is useful for packages with badly named top-level directories or packages where the directory must be renamed to avoid collisions (e.g. gdbserver).

The main use-case for <PKG>_STRIP_LEVEL is to set it to 0 for packages without a top-level directory.

In theory <PKG>_STRIP_LEVEL could be set to 2 or more to remove more than one directory level.

<PKG>_BUILD_OOT

If this is set to YES then PTXdist will build the package out of tree. This is only supported for autoconf, qmake and cmake packages. The default is YES for cmake packages and NO for everything else. It will use $(<PKG>_DIR)-build as build directory.

This is especially useful for file:// URLS that point to directories to keep the source tree free of build files.

<PKG>_SUBDIR

This is a directory relative to <PKG>_DIR. If set, all build operations are executed in this directory instead. By default <PKG>_SUBDIR is undefined so all operations are executed in the top-level directory.

Build Environment for all Stages¶

<PKG>_PATH: This variable defines the PATH used by all build stages. It is evaluated as is, so it must start with PATH=. If undefined, PTXdist will use PATH=$(CROSS_PATH) for target packages PATH=$(HOST_PATH) for host packages and PATH=$(HOST_CROSS_PATH) for cross packages. It must be set by packages that use the variable locally in the make file or if more directories are added, e.g. to PATH=$(PTXDIST_SYSROOT_CROSS)/bin/qt5:$(CROSS_PATH) for packages that use qmake from Qt5.
<PKG>_CFLAGS, <PKG>_CPPFLAGS, <PKG>_LDFLAGS: Compiler, preprocessor and linker are never called directly in PTXdist. Instead, wrapper scripts are called that expand the command line before calling the actual tool. These variables can be used to influence these wrappers. The specified flags are added to the command line when appropriate. In most cases this it the preferred way to add additional flags. Adding them via environment variables or make arguments can have unexpected side effects, such as as overwriting existing defaults.
<PKG>_WRAPPER_BLACKLIST: PTXdist has several options in the platformconfig that inject options in the compiler command line. This is used, for example, to add hardening options or change the debug options. This can occasionally cause problems for packages that use the compiler in certain ways, such as the Linux kernel or various bootloaders. With this variable a package can disable individual options by setting it to a space separated list of the corresponding Kconfig symbols (without the PTXCONF_ prefix).

Prepare Stage¶

<PKG>_CONF_ENV

The environment for the prepare stage. If undefined, PTXdist will use $(CROSS_ENV) for target packages, $(HOST_ENV) for host packages and $(HOST_CROSS_ENV) for cross packages. It must be set by packages that use the variable locally in the make file or if extra variables are added. In this case the definition should start with the default value.

<PKG>_CONF_TOOL

This variable defines what tool is used to configure the package in the prepare stage. Possible values are:

NO to do nothing in the prepare stage.

autoconf for packages that use autoconf

qmake for qmake based packages. Note: the required Qt version must be selected.

cmake for cmake based packages. Note HOST_CMAKE must be selected to ensure, that cmake is available for configuration.

kconfig for kconfig based packages. Note <PKG>_CONFIG must be set as described above.

perl for perl modules.

python or python3 for Python packages with a normal setup.py.

<PKG>_CONF_OPT

This variable adds arguments to the command-line of the configuration tool. If undefined, PTXdist will use a default value that depends on the configuration tool of the package. This default value should also be used when adding additional options. The following defaults exist:

autoconf: $(CROSS_AUTOCONF_USR)/$(HOST_AUTOCONF)/$(HOST_CROSS_AUTOCONF) for target/host/cross packages.

cmake: $(CROSS_CMAKE_USR)/$(HOST_CMAKE_OPT) for target/host packages. Cross packages cannot be built with cmake

qmake: $(CROSS_QMAKE_OPT) for host packages. Host and cross packages cannot be built with qmake.

All other configuration tools have no default options. This variable is ignored for kconfig and python/python3.

Compile Stage¶

<PKG>_MAKE_ENV: This variables defines additional environment variables for the compile stage. In most cases this variable remains undefined because all necessary defines are picked up in the prepare stage. For python/python3 packages PTXdist will use the default value from <PKG>_CONF_ENV. For packages without configuration tool this must be set correctly, usually based on the <PKG>_CONF_ENV default values.
<PKG>_MAKE_OPT: This variables defines additional parameters to be forwarded to make in order to build the package. It defaults to nothing to let make traditionally build the first defined target.
<PKG>_MAKE_PAR: This variables informs PTXdist, if this package can be built in parallel. Some (mostly very smart selfmade) buildsystems fail doing so. In this case this variable can be set to NO. PTXdist will then build this package with one CPU only.

Install Stage¶

<PKG>_INSTALL_OPT: This variable defaults to install which is used as a target for make. It can be overwritten if the package needs a special target to install its results.

Targetinstall Stage¶

TBD

Image Packages¶

Image packages use a different set of variables. They have the same <PKG> and <PKG>_DIR variables as other packages, but the rest is different.

<PKG>_IMAGE

This is the filename of the image that is created by the rule. This is usually $(IMAGEDIR)/<image-file-name>.

<PKG>_FILES

This is a list of tar balls that are extracted to generate the content of the image. PTXdist will add the necessary dependencies to these files to recreate the image as needed. If a tar ball is created by another PTXdist package then this package should be selected in the menu file.

<PKG>_PKGS

This is another mechanism to add files to the image. It can be uses instead of or in addition to <PKG>_FILES. It must be set to a list of ptxdist packages (the lowercase name of the packages). PTXdist will add the necessary dependencies.

Note that this will not ensure that the packages are enabled or that all all package dependencies are satisfied. $(PTX_PACKAGES_INSTALL) can be used to specify all enabled packages. Or $(call ptx/collection, $(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE)/configs/<collection-file-name>) can be uses to to specify the packages enabled by this collection. In both cases = must be uses instead of := due to the makefile include order.

<PKG>_CONFIG

genimage packages use this to specify the genimage configuration file. PTXdist will search for the specified file name in config/images/ in the BSP, platform and PTXdist in the usual search order.

<PKG>_NFSROOT

If this is set to YES then PTXdist will create a special nfsroot directory that contains only the files from the packages specified in <PKG>_PKGS. This is useful if the normal nfsroot directory contains conflicting files from multiple images. The created nfsroot directory is <platform-dir>/nfsroot/<image-name>.

<PKG>_LABEL

This is a tar label to put on an image. This is supported by image-root-tgz and images created with the image-tgz template.

5.2. Rule File Macro Reference¶

Rules files in PTXdist are using macros to get things work. Its highly recommended to use these macros instead of doing something by ourself. Using these macros is portable and such easier to maintain in the case a project should be upgraded to a more recent PTXdist version.

This chapter describes the predefined macros in PTXdist and their usage.

Whenever one of these macros installs something to the target’s root filesystem, it also accepts user and group IDs which are common in all filesystems Linux supports. These IDs can be given as numerical values and as text strings. In the case text strings are given PTXdist converts them into the coresponding numerical value based on the BSP local files passwd and group. If more than one file with these names are present in the BSP PTXdist follows its regular rules which one it prefers.

Many paths shown here contains some parts in angle brackets. These have special meanings in this document.

<platform>: The name of a platform. Corresponds to the variable PTXCONF_PLATFORM
<platform-src>: The directory where the platform is defined. Corresponds to the variable PTXDIST_PLATFORMCONFIGDIR
<platform-dir>: Concatenated directory name with a leading platform- and the name of the selected platform name, e.g. <platform>. If the name of the currently active platform is foo, the final directory name is platform-foo. Corresponds to the variable PTXDIST_PLATFORMDIR

Note

The list of supported macros is not complete yet.

targetinfo¶

Usage:

$(call targetinfo)

Gives a feedback, what build stage is just started. Thats why it should always be the first call for each stage. For the package foo and the compile stage it will output:

--------------------
target: foo.compile
--------------------

touch¶

Usage:

$(call touch)

Gives a feedback, what build stage is just finished. Thats why it should always be the last call for each stage. For the package foo and the compile stage it will output:

finished target foo.compile

clean¶

Usage:

$(call clean, <directory path>)

Removes the given directory <directory path>

install_copy¶

Usage:

$(call install_copy, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <permission>, <source> [, <dest> [, <strip> ]])

Installs given file or directory into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg/opkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

Some of the parameters have fixed meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the file should use in the target’s root filesystem
<GID>: Group ID the file should use in the target’s root filesystem
<permission>: Permission (in an octal value) the file should use in the target’s root filesystem

The remaining parameters vary with the use case:

The <source> parameter can be:

a directory path that should be created in the target’s root filesystem. In this case the <destination> must be omitted. The given path must always start with a / and means the root of the target’s filesystem.
an absolute path to a file that should be copied to the target’s root filesystem. To avoid fixed paths, all packages are providing the <package> _DIR variable. So, this parameter in our foo example package can be a $(FOO_DIR)/foo.
a minus sign (-). PTXdist uses the <destination> parameter in this case to locate the file to copy from. This only works if the package uses the default install stage. Only in this case an additional folder in <platform-dir>/packages will be created for the package and its files. For our foo example package this directory is <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.1.0.

The <dest> parameter can be:

omitted if a directory in target’s root filesystem should be created. For this case the directory to be created is in the <source> parameter.
an absolute path and filename with its root in target’s root filesysem. It must start with a slash (//). If also the <source> parameter was given, the file can be renamed while copying. If the <source> parameter was given as a minus sign (-) the <destination> is also used to locate the source. For our foo example package if we give <destination> as /usr/bin/foo, PTXdist copies the file <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.1.0/usr/bin/foo

The <strip> is a complete optional parameter to prevent this macro from the regular stripping process it does on files. Most of the cases stripping debug information from files is intended. But some kind of files getting destroyed when this stripping happens to them. One example is a Linux kernel module. If it gets stripped, it can’t be loaded into the kernel anymore.

full strip: fully strip the file while installing when this parameter is y or not given at all (default case).
partially strip: only strips real debug information from the file when this parameter is k. Useful to keep Linux kernel module loadable at run-time
no strip: preserve the file from being stripped when this parameter is one of the following: 0, n, no, N or NO.

Due to the complexity of this macro, here are some usage examples:

Create a directory in the root filesystem:

$(call install_copy, foo, 0, 0, 0755, /home/user-foo)

Copy a file from the package build directory to the root filesystem:

$(call install_copy, foo, 0, 0, 0755, $(FOO_DIR)/foo, /usr/bin/foo)

Copy a file from the package build directory to the root filesystem and rename it:

$(call install_copy, foo, 0, 0, 0755, $(FOO_DIR)/foo, /usr/bin/bar)

Copy a file from the package install directory to the root filesystem:

$(call install_copy, foo, 0, 0, 0755, -, /usr/bin/foo)

install_tree¶

Usage:

$(call install_tree, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <source dir>, <destination dir>)

Installs the whole directory tree with all files from the given directory into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

Some of the parameters have fixed meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the UID from the source tree
<GID>: Group ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the GID from the source tree
<source dir>: This is the path to the tree of directories and files to be installed. It can be - to use the package directory of the current package instead
<destination dir>: The basename of the to-be-installed tree in the root filesystem

Note: This installation macro

uses the same permission flags in the destination dir as found in the source dir. This is valid for directories and regular files
skips all directories with names like .svn, .git, .pc and CVS in the source directory

Examples:

Install the whole tree found in /home/jbe/foo to the root filesystem at location /usr/share/bar.

$(call install_tree, foo, 0, 0, /home/jbe/foo, /usr/share/bar)

Install all files from the tree found in the current package FOO to the root filesystem at location /usr/share/bar.

$(call install_tree, foo, 0, 0, -, /usr/share/bar)

If the current package is foo-1.0 the base path for the directory tree will be $(PKGDIR)/foo-1.0/usr/share/bar.

install_alternative_tree¶

Usage:

$(call install_alternative_tree, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <destination dir>)

Installs the whole source directory tree with all files from the given directory into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

The <destination dir> is used like in the install_alternative to let PTXdist search in the same directories and order for the given directory.

Some of the parameters have fixed meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the UID from the source
<GID>: Group ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the GID from the source
<destination dir>: The basename of the to-be-installed tree in the root filesystem

Note

This installation macro

uses the same permission flags in the destination dir as found in the source dir. This is valid for directories and regular files
skips all directories with names like .svn, .git, .pc and CVS in the source directory

Examples:

Install the whole tree found in project’s projectroot/usr/share/bar to the root filesystem at location /usr/share/bar.

$(call install_alternative_tree, foo, 0, 0, /usr/share/bar)

To install nothing, use a symlink to /dev/null instead of the base directory. See install_alternative for more details.

install_alternative¶

Usage:

$(call install_alternative, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <permission>, <destination>)

Installs given files or directories into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg/opkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

The base parameters and their meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the file should use in the target’s root filesystem
<GID>: Group ID the file should use in the target’s root filesystem
<permission>: Permission (in an octal value) the file should use in the target’s root filesystem

The parameter <destination> is meant as an absolute path and filename in target’s root filesystem. PTXdist searches for the source of this file in:

the local project
in the used platform
PTXdist’s install path
in the current package

As this search algorithm is complex, here an example for the file /etc/foo in package FOO. PTXdist will search for this file in the following order:

project’s directory projectroot.<platform>/etc/foo
project’s directory projectroot/etc/foo.<platform>
platform’s directory <platform-src>/projectroot/etc/foo.<platform>
project’s directory projectroot/etc/foo
platform’s directory <platform-src>/projectroot/etc/foo
ptxdist’s directory projectroot/etc/foo
project’s directory $(FOO_DIR)/etc/foo

The generic rules are looking like the following:

$(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE)/projectroot$(PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX)/etc/foo
$(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE)/projectroot/etc/foo$(PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX)
$(PTXDIST_PLATFORMCONFIGDIR)/projectroot/etc/foo$(PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX)
$(PTXDIST_WORKSPACE)/projectroot/etc/foo
$(PTXDIST_PLATFORMCONFIGDIR)/projectroot/etc/foo
$(PTXDIST_TOPDIR)/projectroot/etc/foo
$(FOO_DIR)/etc/foo

Note: You can get the current values for the listed variables above via running PTXdist with the print parameter:

$ ptxdist print PTXDIST_PLATFORMSUFFIX

install_alternative is used by upstream PTXdist packages to install config files. In some rare use-cases the file should not be installed at all. For example if the config file is generated at runtime or provided by a special configuration package. This is possibly by creating a symlink to /dev/null instead of a file at one of the locations described above. PTXdist skip installing the file if it detects such a symlink.

install_link¶

Usage:

$(call install_link, <package>, <point to>, <where>)

Installs a symbolic link into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg/opkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

The parameters and their meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<point to>: Path and name the link should point to. Note: This macro rejects absolute paths. If needed use relative paths instead.
<where>: Path and name of the symbolic link.

A few usage examples.

Create a symbolic link as /usr/lib/libfoo.so pointing to libfoo.so.1.1.0 in the same directory:

$(call install_link, foo, libfoo.so.1.1.0, /usr/lib/libfoo.so)

Create a symbolic link as /usr/bin/foo pointing to /bin/bar:

$(call install_link, foo, ../../bin/bar, /usr/bin/foo)

install_archive¶

Usage:

$(call install_archive, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <archive> , <base path>)

Installs archives content into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg/opkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

All parameters have fixed meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID all files and directory of the archive should use in the target’s root filesystem. A - uses the file’s/directory’s UID in the archive
<GID>: Group ID the files and directories should use in the target’s root filesystem. A - uses the file’s/directory’s GID in the archive
<archive>: Name of the archive to be used in this call. The given path and filename is used as is
<base path>: Base path component in the root filesystem the archive should be extracted to. Can be just / for root.

install_glob¶

Usage:

$(call install_glob, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <source dir>, <destination dir>, <yglob>, <nglob>[, <strip>])

Installs parts of a directory tree with all files from the given directory into:

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

Some of the parameters have fixed meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the UID from the source tree
<GID>: Group ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem or - to keep the GID from the source tree
<source dir>: This is the path to the tree of directories and files to be installed. It can be - to use the package directory of the current package instead
<destination dir>: The basename of the to-be-installed tree in the root filesystem
<yglob>: A list of pathname patterns. All files or directories that match _any_ pattern in the list are installed. Note: the patterns must match the whole absolute path, e.g. */foo. An empty list is equivalent to a pattern that matches all files.
<nglob>: Like <yglob> but any matching files or directories will not be installed. For directories, this includes the whole contents of the directory.

Except for the pathname patterns, this command works like install_tree. The <yglob> and <nglob> patterns are combined: Only files that match <yglob> and do not match <nglob> are installed.

Examples:

Install all shared libraries found in $(PKGDIR)/usr/lib/foo except libbar.so

$(call install_glob, foo, 0, 0, -, /usr/lib/foo, *.so, */libbar.so)

install_lib¶

Usage:

$(call install_lib, <package>, <UID>, <GID>, <permission>, <libname>)

Installs the shared library <libname> into the root filesystem.

the project’s <platform-dir>/root/
an ipkg/opkg packet in the project’s <platform-dir>/packages/

The parameters and their meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<UID>: User ID the file should use in the target’s root filesystem
<GID>: Group ID the directories and files should use in the target’s root filesystem
<permission>: Permission (as an octal value) the library should use in the target’s root filesystem (mostly 0644)
<libname>: Basename of the library without any extension and path

The install_lib macro searches for the library at the most common directories /lib and /usr/lib. And it searches always in the package’s corresponding directory in <platform-dir>/packages/. It also handles all required links to make the library work at run-time.

An example.

Lets assume the package ‘foo-1.0.0’ has installed the library libfoo into its <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.0.0 at:

the lib: <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.0.0/usr/lib/libfoo1.so.0.0.0
first link: <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.0.0/usr/lib/libfoo1.so.0
second link: <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.0.0/usr/lib/libfoo1.so

To install this library and its corresponding links, the following line does the job:

$(call install_lib, foo, 0, 0, 0644, libfoo1)

Note: The package’s install stage must be ‘DESTDIR’ aware to be able to make it install its content into the corresponding packages directory (in our example <platform-dir>/packages/foo-1.0.0/ here).

install_replace¶

Usage:

$(call install_replace, <package>, <filename>, <placeholder>, <value>)

Replace placeholder with value in a previously installed file.

The parameters and their meanings:

<package>: Name of the IPKG/OPKG the macro should work on
<filename>: Absolute filepath in target root filesystem
<placeholder>: A string in the file which should be replaced. Usually some uppercase word surrounded by @ signs
<value>: The value which should appear in the root filesystem instead of the placeholder, could be some PTXCONF variable

The install_replace macro can be used in targetinstall stage to adapt some template and replace strings with content from menu variables or other sources. For example look at the timezone you set in the ptxdist menu. An install_replace call in rules/timezone.make replaces the string @TIMEZONE@ in the file /etc/timezone in root filesystem with the content of the menu variable PTXCONF_TIMEZONE_LOCALTIME. The file must be installed with some other install_* command before install_replace can be used. A typical call would look like this:

$(STATEDIR)/timezone.targetinstall:
     ...
     @$(call install_replace, timezone, /etc/timezone, @TIMEZONE@, \
             $(PTXCONF_TIMEZONE_LOCALTIME))

ptx/endis¶

To convert the state (set/unset) of a variable into an enable/disable string use the ptx/endis macro. If the given <variable> is set this macro expands to the string enable, if unset to disable instead.

Usage:

--$(call ptx/endis, <variable>)-<parameter>

An example:

FOO_CONF_OPT += --$(call ptx/endis,FOO_VARIABLE)-something

Depending on the state of FOO_VARIABLE this line results into

FOO_CONF_OPT += --enable-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is set)
FOO_CONF_OPT += --disable-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is unset)

Refer ptx/disen for the opposite string expansion.

ptx/disen¶

To convert the state (set/unset) of a variable into a disable/enable string use the ptx/disen macro. If the given <variable> is set this macro expands to the string disable, if unset to enable instead.

Usage:

--$(call ptx/disen, <variable>)-<parameter>

An example:

FOO_CONF_OPT += --$(call ptx/disen,FOO_VARIABLE)-something

Depending on the state of FOO_VARIABLE this line results into

FOO_CONF_OPT += --disable-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is set)
FOO_CONF_OPT += --enable-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is unset)

Refer ptx/endis for the opposite string expansion.

ptx/wwo¶

To convert the state (set/unset) of a variable into a with/without string use the ptx/wwo macro. If the given <variable> is set this macro expands to the string with, if unset to without instead.

Usage:

--$(call ptx/wwo, <variable>)-<parameter>

An example:

FOO_CONF_OPT += --$(call ptx/wwo,FOO_VARIABLE)-something

Depending on the state of FOO_VARIABLE this line results into

FOO_CONF_OPT += --with-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is set)
FOO_CONF_OPT += --without-something (if FOO_VARIABLE is unset)

ptx/ifdef¶

To convert the state (set/unset) of a variable into one of two strings use the ptx/ifdef macro. If the given <variable> is set this macro expands to the first given string, if unset to the second given string.

Usage:

--with-something=$(call ptx/ifdef, <variable>, <first-string>, <second-string)

An example:

FOO_CONF_OPT += --with-something=$(call ptx/ifdef,FOO_VARIABLE,/usr,none)

Depending on the state of FOO_VARIABLE this line results into

FOO_CONF_OPT += --with-something=/usr (if FOO_VARIABLE is set)
FOO_CONF_OPT += --with-something=none (if FOO_VARIABLE is unset)

5.3. Rule File Layout¶

Each rule file provides PTXdist with the required steps (in PTXdist called stages) to be done on a per package base:

get
extract
- extract.post
prepare
compile
install
- install.post
- install.pack
targetinstall
- targetinstall.post

Default stage rules¶

As for most packages these steps can be done in a default way, PTXdist provides generic rules for each package. If a package’s rule file does not provide a specific stage rule, the default stage rule will be used instead.

Important

Omitting one of the stage rules does not mean that PTXdist skips this stage! In this case the default stage rule is used instead.

get Stage Default Rule¶

If the get stage is omitted, PTXdist runs instead:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.get:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @$(call touch)

Which means this step is skipped.

If the package is an archive that must be downloaded from the web, the following rule must exist in this case:

$(@package@_SOURCE):
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @$(call get, @package@)

extract Stage Default Rule¶

If the extract stage is omitted, PTXdist runs instead:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.extract:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @$(call clean, $(@package@_DIR))
            @$(call extract, @package@)
            @$(call patchin, @package@)
            @$(call touch)

Which means a current existing directory of this package will be removed, the archive gets freshly extracted again and (if corresponding patches are found) patched.

extract.post Stage Default Rule¶

This is an optional stage, mainly used to somehow prepare a package for the next prepare stage step. This stage can be used to generate a configure script out of an autotoolized configure.ac file for example. This separation from the extract stage is useful to be able to extract a package for a quick look into the sources without the need to build all the autotools first. The autotoolized PTXdist templates makes use of this feature. Refer Creating Autotools based Packages for further details.

prepare Stage Default Rule¶

If the prepare stage is omitted, PTXdist runs a default stage rule depending on some variable settings.

If the package’s rule file defines @package@_CONF_TOOL to NO, this stage is simply skipped.

All rules files shall create the @package@_CONF_ENV variable and define it at least to $(CROSS_ENV) if the prepare stage is used.

If the package’s rule file defines @package@_CONF_TOOL to autoconf (FOO_CONF_TOOL = autoconf for our foo example), PTXdist treats this package as an autotoolized package and runs:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.prepare:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @$(call clean, $(@package@_DIR)/config.cache)
            @cd $(@package@_DIR)/$(@package@_SUBDIR) && \
                    $(@package@_PATH) $(@package@_CONF_ENV) \
                    ./configure $(@package@_CONF_OPT)
            @$(call touch)

The @package@_CONF_OPT should at least be defined to $(CROSS_AUTOCONF_USR) or $(CROSS_AUTOCONF_ROOT).

If the package’s rule file defines @package@_CONF_TOOL to cmake (FOO_CONF_TOOL = cmake for our foo example), PTXdist treats this package as a cmake based package and runs:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.prepare:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @cd $(@package@_DIR) && \
                    $(@package@_PATH) $(@package@_CONF_ENV) \
                    cmake $(@package@_CONF_OPT)
            @$(call touch)

The @package@_CONF_OPT should at least be defined to $(CROSS_CMAKE_USR) or $(CROSS_CMAKE_ROOT).

If the package’s rule file defines @package@_CONF_TOOL to qmake (FOO_CONF_TOOL = qmake for our foo example), PTXdist treats this package as a qmake based package and runs:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.prepare:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @cd $(@package@_DIR) && \
                    $(@package@_PATH) $(@package@_CONF_ENV) \
                    qmake $(@package@_CONF_OPT)
            @$(call touch)

The @package@_CONF_OPT should at least be defined to $(CROSS_QMAKE_OPT).

compile Stage Default Rule¶

If the compile stage is omitted, PTXdist runs instead:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.compile:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @cd $(@package@_DIR) && \
                    $(@package@_PATH) $(@package@_MAKE_ENV) \
                    $(MAKE) $(@package@_MAKE_OPT) $(@package@_MAKE_PAR)
            @$(call touch)

If some additional variables should be added to the @package@_MAKE_ENV, always begin with the $(CROSS_ENV) and then add the additional variables.

If the @package@_MAKE_OPT is intended for additional parameters to be forwarded to make or to overwrite some settings from the @package@_MAKE_ENV. If not defined in the rule file it defaults to an empty string.

Note: @package@_MAKE_PAR can be defined to YES or NO to control if the package can be built in parallel.

install Stage Default Rule¶

If the install stage is omitted, PTXdist runs instead:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.install:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @cd $(@package@_DIR) && \
                    $(@package@_PATH) $(@package@_MAKE_ENV) \
                    $(MAKE) $(@package@_INSTALL_OPT)
            @$(call touch)

Note: @package@_INSTALL_OPT is always defined to install if not otherwise specified. This value can be replaced by a package’s rule file definition.

install.post Stage Default Rule¶

TBD

install.pack Stage Default Rule¶

TBD

targetinstall Stage Default Rule¶

There is no default rule for a package’s targetinstall state. PTXdist has no idea what is required on the target at run-time. This stage is up to the developer only. Refer to section Rule File Macro Reference for further info on how to select files to be included in the target’s root filesystem.

targetinstall.post Stage Default Rule¶

TBD

Skipping a Stage¶

For the case that a specific stage should be really skipped, an empty rule must be provided:

$(STATEDIR)/@package@.<stage_to_skip>:
            @$(call targetinfo)
            @$(call touch)

Replace the <stage_to_skip> by get, extract, prepare, compile, install or targetinstall.

5.4. PTXdist parameter reference¶

PTXdist is a command line tool, which is basicly called as:

$  ptxdist <action [args]> [options]

Setup and Project Actions¶

menu: this starts a dialog based frontend for those who do not like typing commands. It will gain us access to the most common parameters to configure and build a PTXdist project. This menu handles the actions menuconfig, platformconfig, kernelconfig, select, platform, boardsetup, setup, go and images.
select <config>: this action will select a user land configuration. This step is only required in projects, where no selected_ptxconfig file is present. The <config> argument must point to a valid user land configuration file. PTXdist provides this feature to enable the user to maintain more than one user land configuration in the same project. The default location for the configuration file is configs/ptxconfig. PTXdist will use this if no other configuration is selected.
platform <config>: this action will select a platform configuration. This step is only required in projects, where no selected_platform file is present. The <config> argument must point to a valid platform configuration file. PTXdist provides this feature to enable the user to maintain more than one platform in one project. The default location for the configuration file is configs/*/platformconfig. PTXdist will use it if the pattern matches exactly one file and no other configuration is selected.
toolchain [<path>]: this action will select the toolchain to use. If no path is specified then PTXdist will guess which toolchain to use based on the settings in the platformconfig. Setting the toolchain is only required if PTXdist cannot find the toolchain automatically or if a different toolchain should be used.
collection <config>: this action will select a collection configuration. This step is optional. The <config> argument must point to a valid collection configuration file.
setup: PTXdist uses some global settings, independent from the project it is working on. These settings belong to users preferences or simply some network settings to permit PTXdist to download required packages.
boardsetup: PTXdist based projects can provide information to setup and configure the target automatically. This action let the user setup the environment specific settings like the network IP address and so on.
menuconfig: start the menu to configure the project’s root filesystem. This is in respect to user land only. Its the main menu to select applications and libraries, the root filesystem of the target should consist of.
menuconfig platform: this action starts the menu to configure platform’s settings. As these are architecture and target specific settings it configures the toolchain, the kernel and a bootloader (but no user land components). Due to a project can support more than one platform, this will configure the currently selected platform. The short form for this action is platformconfig.
menuconfig kernel: start the menu to configure the platform’s kernel. As a project can support more than one platform, this will configure the currently selected platform. The short form for this action is kernelconfig.
menuconfig barebox: this action starts the configure menu for the selected bootloader. It depends on the platform settings which bootloader is enabled and to be used as an argument to the menuconfig action parameter. Due to a project can support more than one platform, this will configure the bootloader of the currently selected platform.
nconfig [<component>]: this action provides a slightly different user experience with the same functionality as menuconfig. It can be used instead of menuconfig for all the component described above.
oldconfig [<component>], allmodconfig [<component>], allyesconfig [<component>], allnoconfig [<component>], randconfig [<component>]: this action will run the corresponding kconfig action for the specified component. oldconfig will prompt for all new options. allmodconfig, allyesconfig and allnoconfig will set all options to ‘m’, ‘y’ or ‘n’ respectively. randconfig will randomize the options. The KCONFIG_ALLCONFIG and KCONFIG_SEED environment variables can be used as described in the Linux kernel documentation.
migrate: migrate the configuration files from a previous PTXdist version. This will run oldconfig and oldconfig platform to prompt for all new options.

Build Actions¶

go

this action will build all enabled packages in the current project configurations (platform and user land). It will also rebuild reconfigured packages if any or build additional packages if they where enabled meanwhile. If enables this step also builds the kernel and bootloader image.

get

this action will download the sources for all packages. This is useful to download everything at once. Afterwards the packages can be built without internet access.

urlcheck [<package>]

this action will check if the URL for the package (or all packages) still works. It does not download the whole file, so this is relatively fast, but may not be 100% correct in all cases.

get <package>, extract <package>, prepare <package>, compile <package>, install <package>, targetinstall <package>

this action will build the corresponding stage for the specified package including all previous stages and other dependencies. Multiple packages can be specified.

drop <package>.<stage>

this action will ‘drop’ the specified stage without removing any other files. Subsequent actions will rebuild this stage. This is useful during development to rebuild a package without deleting the sources. Use clean <package> for a full rebuild of the package.

images

most of the time this is the last step to get the required files and/or images for the target. It creates filesystems or device images to be used in conjunction with the target’s filesystem media. The result can be found in the images/ directory of the project or the platform directory.

image <image>

build the specified image. The file name in images/ is used to identify the image. This is basically the same as images but builds just one image.

Note: This is only supported for the images in the ‘new image creation options’ section of the platformconfig.

Clean Actions¶

clean: the clean action will remove all generated files while the last go run: all build, packages and root filesystem directories. Only the selected configuration files are left untouched. This is a way to start a fresh build cycle.
clean root: this action will only clean the root filesystem directories. All the build directories are left untouched. Using this action will re-generate all ipkg/opkg archives from the already built packages and also the root filesystem directories in the next go action. The clean root and go action is useful, if the targetinstall stage for all packages should run again.
clean <package>: this action will only clean the dedicated <package>. It will remove its build directory and all installed files from the corresponding sysroot directory. Multiple packages can be specified.
distclean: the distclean action will remove all files that are not part of the main project. It removes all generated files and directories like the clean action and also the created links in any platform and/or select action.

Misc Actions¶

version: print out the PTXdist version.
test <testname>: run tests
newpackage <type>: create a new PTXdist package. For most package types, this will create <pkg>.make and <pkg>.in files in rules/. Use newpackage help for a list of available package types.
nfsroot: run a userspace NFS server and export the nfsroot (refer section Using a userland NFS Server for the Target for further details).
gdb: run the cross gdb from the toolchain. The sysroot and other search paths are configured to ensure that gdb finds all available debug files.
print <var>: print the contents of a variable. It will first look for a shell variable with the given name. If none exists, it will run make and look if a variable with the given name is known to ‘make’.
list-packages: print a list of all selected packages. This list does not include the host and cross tools.
local-src <pkg> [<directory>]: overwrite a package source with a locally provided directory containing the source code. Not specifying the directory will undo the change.
bash: enter a PTXdist environment bash shell.
bash <cmd> [args...]: execute <cmd> in PTXdist environment.
make <target>: build specified make target in PTXdist.
export_src <target-dir>: export all source archives needed for this project to <target-dir>.
docs-html: build html documentation for a BSP. The output is written to Documentation/html/index.html

Overwrite defaults¶

These options can be used to overwrite some settings. They can be useful when working with multiple configurations or platforms in a single project.

--ptxconfig=<config>: use the specified ptxconfig file instead of the selected of default configuration file.
--platformconfig=<config>: use specified platformconfig file instead of the selected of default configuration file.
--collectionconfig=<config>: use specified collectionconfig file instead of the selected configuration file.
--toolchain=<toolchain>: use specified toolchain instead of the selected or default toolchain.
--force-download: allow downloading, even if disabled by setup

Options¶

--force, -f

use this option to overwrite various sanity checks. Only use this option if you really know what you are doing.

--debug, -d

print out additional info (like make decisions)

--quiet, -q

suppress output, show only stderr

--verbose, -v

be more verbose, print command before execute them

--output-sync, --no-output-sync

enable or disable output synchronization. By default output synchronization is only enabled for quiet builds. Output synchronization is implemented by the make --output-sync option. For building packages in parallel, --output-sync=recurse is used. For individual make commands in the build stages --output-sync=target is used. This means, that the output for each individual make target and each build stage is grouped together.

Note: If output synchronization is enabled then the output for each build stage is collected by make and won’t be visible until the build stage is completed. As a result, there will be long periods of time with no visible progress.

--j-intern=<n>, -ji<n>

set number of parallel jobs within packages. PTXdist will use this number for example when calling make during the compile stage. The default is 2x the number of CPUs.

--j-extern=<n>, -je<n>

set number of packages built in parallel. The default is 1. Use -j instead of this. It has the same goal and performs better.

-j[<n>]

set the global number of parallel jobs. This is basically a more intelligent combination of -je and -ji. A single package rarely uses all the available CPUs. Usually only the compile stage can use more than one CPU and even then there are often idle CPUs. With the global job pool, tasks from multiple packages can be executed in parallel without overloading the system.

Note: Because of the parallel execution, the output is chaotic and not very useful. Use this in combination with -q and only to speed up building for project that are known to build without errors.

--load-average=<n>, -l<n>

try to limit load to <n>. This is used for the equivalent make option.

--nice=<n>, -n<n>

run with reduced scheduling priority (i.e. nice). The default is 10.

--keep-going, -k

keep going. Continue as much as possible after an error.

--git

use git to apply patches

--auto-version

automatically switch to the correct PTXdist version. This will look for the correct PTXdist version in the ptxconfig file and execute it if it does not match the current version.

--virtualenv=<dir>

inlcude a Python Virtual Environment. The given path must contain a bin/activate shell script.