path: root/bitbake/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>
        <title>Introduction</title>

        <para>
            bitbake is the primary command in the system.
            It facilitates executing tasks in a single .bb 
            file, or executing a given task on a set of multiple
            .bb files, accounting for interdependencies
            amongst them.
        </para>
    </section>
    <section>
        <title>Usage and syntax</title>
        <para>
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
<prompt>$ </prompt>bitbake --help
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>
        <para>

            <example>

            <title>Executing a task against a single .bb</title>

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

                <para><quote>clean</quote> task:</para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -b foo.bb -c clean
                </literallayout>

                <para><quote>build</quote> task:</para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -b foo_1.0.bb
                </literallayout>

            </example>
            </para>
            <para>
            <example>
                <title>Executing tasks against a set of .bb files</title>
            <para>
                There are a number of additional complexities introduced
                when one wants to manage multiple .bb 
                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 .bb
                to express its dependencies, both for build time and 
                runtime.
                There must be a way for the user to express their preferences
                when multiple .bb's provide the same functionality, or when
                there are multiple versions of a .bb.
            </para>

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

            <para>
                Note that the bitbake command, when not using
                --buildfile, accepts a <varname>PROVIDER</varname>, not a filename or 
                anything else.
                By default, a .bb 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>
            </example>
            <example>
                <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 <application>dot</application> 
                application from 
                <ulink url="http://www.graphviz.org">Graphviz</ulink>.
                Two files will be written into the current working directory,
                <emphasis>depends.dot</emphasis> containing dependency information
                at the package level and <emphasis>task-depends.dot</emphasis>
                containing a breakdown of the dependencies at the task level.
                To stop depending on common depends, one can use the <prompt>-I depend</prompt> 
                to omit these from the graph.
                This can lead to more readable graphs.
                This way, <varname>DEPENDS</varname> from inherited classes
                such as base.bbclass can be removed from the
                graph.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -g foo

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

    <section>
        <title>Special variables</title>

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

        <section>
            <title><varname>BB_NUMBER_THREADS</varname></title>

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

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

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

        <example>
            <title>Depending on another .bb</title>

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

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

     b.bb:

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

        <example>
            <title>Using PROVIDES</title>

            <para>
This example shows the usage of the <varname>PROVIDES</varname> variable, which allows a given .bb 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
                .bb's 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 .conf file, to select package1:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/package = "package1"
                </literallayout>
            </para>
        </example>

       <example>
            <title>Specifying version preference</title>

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

            <para>
                If the first .bb is named
                <filename>a_1.1.bb</filename>, then the
                <varname>PN</varname> variable will be set to
                <quote>a</quote>, and the <varname>PV</varname> 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
                .conf that BitBake parses, we
                can change that.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     PREFERRED_VERSION_a = "1.1"
                </literallayout>

            </para>
        </example>
        <example>

            <title>Using <quote>bbfile collections</quote></title>

            <para>
                bbfile collections exist to allow the user to 
                have multiple repositories of
                bbfiles 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.
                Usage:
                <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>
        </example>
    </section>
</chapter>