path: root/doc/user-manual/user-manual-bitbakecommand.xml

<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">

<chapter>
    <title>The BitBake Command</title>

    <section id='bitbake-command-introduction'>
        <title>Introduction</title>

        <para>
            Bitbake is the primary command in the system.
            It facilitates executing tasks in a single <filename>.bb</filename>
            file, or executing a given task on a set of multiple
            <filename>.bb</filename> files, accounting for interdependencies
            amongst them.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='usage-and-syntax'>
        <title>Usage and syntax</title>

        <para>
            Following is the usage and syntax for BitBake:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -h
     Usage: bitbake [options] [recipename/target ...]

         Executes the specified task (default is 'build') for a given set of target recipes (.bb files).
         It is assumed there is a conf/bblayers.conf available in cwd or in BBPATH which
         will provide the layer, BBFILES and other configuration information.

     Options:
       --version             show program's version number and exit
       -h, --help            show this help message and exit
       -b BUILDFILE, --buildfile=BUILDFILE
                             Execute tasks from a specific .bb recipe directly.
                             WARNING: Does not handle any dependencies from other
                             recipes.
       -k, --continue        Continue as much as possible after an error. While the
                             target that failed and anything depending on it cannot
                             be built, as much as possible will be built before
                             stopping.
       -a, --tryaltconfigs   Continue with builds by trying to use alternative
                             providers where possible.
       -f, --force           Force the specified targets/task to run (invalidating
                             any existing stamp file).
       -c CMD, --cmd=CMD     Specify the task to execute. The exact options
                             available depend on the metadata. Some examples might
                             be 'compile' or 'populate_sysroot' or 'listtasks' may
                             give a list of the tasks available.
       -C INVALIDATE_STAMP, --clear-stamp=INVALIDATE_STAMP
                             Invalidate the stamp for the specified task such as
                             'compile' and then run the default task for the
                             specified target(s).
       -r PREFILE, --read=PREFILE
                             Read the specified file before bitbake.conf.
       -R POSTFILE, --postread=POSTFILE
                             Read the specified file after bitbake.conf.
       -v, --verbose         Output more log message data to the terminal.
       -D, --debug           Increase the debug level. You can specify this more
                             than once.
       -n, --dry-run         Don't execute, just go through the motions.
       -S, --dump-signatures
                             Don't execute, just dump out the signature
                             construction information.
       -p, --parse-only      Quit after parsing the BB recipes.
       -s, --show-versions   Show current and preferred versions of all recipes.
       -e, --environment     Show the global or per-package environment complete
                             with information about where variables were
                             set/changed.
       -g, --graphviz        Save dependency tree information for the specified
                             targets in the dot syntax.
       -I EXTRA_ASSUME_PROVIDED, --ignore-deps=EXTRA_ASSUME_PROVIDED
                             Assume these dependencies don't exist and are already
                             provided (equivalent to ASSUME_PROVIDED). Useful to
                             make dependency graphs more appealing
       -l DEBUG_DOMAINS, --log-domains=DEBUG_DOMAINS
                             Show debug logging for the specified logging domains
       -P, --profile         Profile the command and save reports.
       -u UI, --ui=UI        The user interface to use (e.g. knotty, hob, depexp).
       -t SERVERTYPE, --servertype=SERVERTYPE
                             Choose which server to use, process or xmlrpc.
       --revisions-changed   Set the exit code depending on whether upstream
                             floating revisions have changed or not.
       --server-only         Run bitbake without a UI, only starting a server
                             (cooker) process.
        B BIND, --bind=BIND  The name/address for the bitbake server to bind to.
       --no-setscene         Do not run any setscene tasks. sstate will be ignored
                             and everything needed, built.
       --remote-server=REMOTE_SERVER
                             Connect to the specified server.
       -m, --kill-server     Terminate the remote server.
       --observe-only        Connect to a server as an observing-only client.
       --status-only         Check the status of the remote bitbake server.
            </literallayout>
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='bitbake-examples'>
        <title>Examples</title>

        <para>
            This section presents some examples showing how to use BitBake.
        </para>

        <section id='example-executing-a-task-against-a-single-recipe'>
            <title>Executing a Task Against a Single Recipe</title>

            <para>
                Executing tasks for a single recipe file is relatively simple.
                You specify the file in question, and BitBake parses
                it and executes the specified task (or “build” by default).
                BitBake obeys inter-task dependencies when doing
                so.
            </para>

            <para>
                The following command runs the clean task on the
                <filename>foo_1.0.bb</filename> recipe file:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -b foo.bb -c clean
                </literallayout>
                The following command runs the build task, which is
                the default task, on the <filename>foo_1.0.bb</filename>
                recipe file:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -b foo_1.0.bb
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='executing-tasks-against-a-set-of-recipe-files'>
            <title>Executing Tasks Against a Set of Recipe Files</title>

            <para>
                There are a number of additional complexities introduced
                when one wants to manage multiple <filename>.bb</filename>
                files.
                Clearly there needs to be a way to tell BitBake what
                files are available, and of those, which we
                want to execute at this time.
                There also needs to be a way for each <filename>.bb</filename>
                to express its dependencies, both for build-time and
                runtime.
                There must be a way for the user to express their preferences
                when multiple recipes provide the same functionality, or when
                there are multiple versions of a  <filename>.bb</filename> file.
            </para>

            <para>
                The next section, Metadata, outlines how to specify such things.
            </para>

            <para>
                The <filename>bitbake</filename> command, when not using
                "--buildfile", accepts a PROVIDER, not a filename or
                anything else.
                By default, a <filename>.bb</filename> generally PROVIDES its
                packagename, packagename-version, and packagename-version-revision.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake foo

     $ bitbake foo-1.0

     $ bitbake foo-1.0-r0

     $ bitbake -c clean foo

     $ bitbake virtual/whatever

     $ bitbake -c clean virtual/whatever
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='generating-dependency-graphs'>
            <title>Generating Dependency Graphs</title>

            <para>
                BitBake is able to generate dependency graphs using
                the dot syntax.
                These graphs can be converted to images using the dot
                application from
                <ulink url='http://www.graphviz.org'>Graphviz</ulink>.
                Two files will be written into the current working directory:
                <filename>depends.dot</filename> containing dependency information
                at the package level and <filename>task-depends.dot</filename>
                containing a breakdown of the dependencies at the task level.
                To stop depending on common depends, one can use the "-I" depend
                option to omit these from the graph.
                This can lead to more readable graphs.
                This way, <filename>DEPENDS</filename> from inherited classes
                such as <filename>base.bbclass</filename> can be removed from the
                graph.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -g foo

     $ bitbake -g -I virtual/whatever -I bloom foo
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='special-variables'>
        <title>Special Variables</title>

        <para>
            Certain variables affect BitBake operation:
        </para>

        <section id='bb-number-threads'>
            <title><filename>BB_NUMBER_THREADS</filename></title>

            <para>
                The number of threads BitBake should run at once (default: 1).
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='bitbake-command-metadata'>
        <title>Metadata</title>

        <para>
            As you may have seen in the usage information, or in the
            information about <filename>.bb</filename> files, the
            <filename>BBFILES</filename> variable is how the BitBake
            tool locates its files.
            This variable is a space-separated list of files
            that are available, and supports wildcards.
        </para>

        <section id='setting-bbfiles'>
            <title>Setting <filename>BBFILES</filename></title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBFILES="/path/to/bbfiles/*.bb"
                </literallayout>
                With regard to dependencies, it expects the
                <filename>.bb</filename> to define a
                <filename>DEPENDS</filename> variable, which contains a
                space separated list of “package names”, which themselves
                are the <filename>PN</filename> variable. The
                <filename>PN</filename> variable is, in general,
                set to a component of the <filename>.bb</filename>
                filename by default.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='depending-on-another-recipe-file'>
            <title>Depending on Another Recipe File</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     a.bb:

     PN = "package-a" DEPENDS += "package-b"

     b.bb:

     PN = "package-b"
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='using-provides'>
            <title>Using <filename>PROVIDES</filename></title>

            <para>
                This example shows the usage of the
                <filename>PROVIDES</filename> variable, which allows a
                given <filename>.bb</filename> to specify what
                functionality it provides.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     package1.bb:

     PROVIDES += "virtual/package"

     package2.bb:

     DEPENDS += "virtual/package"

     package3.bb:

     PROVIDES += "virtual/package"
                </literallayout>
                As you can see, we have two different
                recipes that provide the same functionality
                (virtual/package).
                Clearly, there needs to be a way for the person running
                BitBake to control which of those providers
                gets used.
                There is, indeed, such a way.
            </para>

            <para>
                The following would go into a <filename>.conf</filename>
                file, to select package1:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/package = "package1"
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='specifying-version-preference'>
            <title>Specifying Version Preference</title>

            <para>
                When there are multiple “versions” of a given package,
                BitBake defaults to selecting the most recent
                version, unless otherwise specified.
                If the <filename>.bb</filename> in question has a
                <filename>DEFAULT_PREFERENCE</filename> set lower than
                the other recipes (default is 0), then it will not be
                selected.
                This allows the person or persons maintaining
                the repository of <filename>.bb</filename> files to specify
                their preference for the default selected version.
                In addition, the user can specify their preferred version.
            </para>

            <para>
                If the first <filename>.bb</filename> is named
                <filename>a_1.1.bb</filename>, then the
                <filename>PN</filename> variable will be set to
                “a”, and the <filename>PV</filename> variable will be
                set to 1.1.
            </para>

            <para>
                If we then have an <filename>a_1.2.bb</filename>, BitBake
                will choose 1.2 by default.
                However, if we define the following variable in a
                <filename>.conf</filename> file that BitBake parses, we
                can change that.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     PREFERRED_VERSION_a = "1.1"
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='using-recipe-file-collections'>
            <title>Using Recipe File Collections</title>

            <para>
                Recipe file collections exist to allow the user to
                have multiple repositories of
                <filename>.bb</filename> files that contain the same
                exact package.
                For example, one could easily use them to make one's
                own local copy of an upstream repository, but with
                custom modifications that one does not want upstream.
                Here is an example:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBFILES = "/stuff/openembedded/*/*.bb
         /stuff/openembedded.modified/*/*.bb" \
         BBFILE_COLLECTIONS = "upstream local" \
         BBFILE_PATTERN_upstream = "^/stuff/openembedded/" \
         BBFILE_PATTERN_local = "^/stuff/openembedded.modified/" \
         BBFILE_PRIORITY_upstream = "5" BBFILE_PRIORITY_local = "10"
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>
</chapter>