3 files changed, 12 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/meta/classes/image.bbclass b/meta/classes/image.bbclass
index 54eb78b7c9..286ae013f9 100644
--- a/meta/classes/image.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/image.bbclass
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ fakeroot do_rootfs () {
         mkdir -p ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}
         mkdir -p ${DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE}
 
+        cp -n ${COREBASE}/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt ${DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE}/README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt
+
         if [ "${USE_DEVFS}" != "1" ]; then
                 for devtable in ${@get_devtable_list(d)}; do
                         makedevs -r ${IMAGE_ROOTFS} -D $devtable
diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index 386b05e57a..a2b10f2c7a 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -500,6 +500,8 @@ kernel_do_deploy() {
         cd ${DEPLOYDIR}
         rm -f ${KERNEL_IMAGE_SYMLINK_NAME}.bin
         ln -sf ${KERNEL_IMAGE_BASE_NAME}.bin ${KERNEL_IMAGE_SYMLINK_NAME}.bin
+
+        cp -n ${COREBASE}/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt ${DEPLOYDIR}/README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt
 }
 do_deploy[dirs] = "${DEPLOYDIR} ${B}"
 
diff --git a/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt b/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..97ec1855f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Files in the deploy directory will not be re-created automatically if you
+delete them. If you do delete a file, you will need to run:
+
+  bitbake -c clean TARGET
+  bitbake TARGET
+
+where TARGET is the name of the appropriate package or target e.g.
+"virtual/kernel" for the kernel, an image, etc.