Re: [bitbake-devel] [PATCH] bitbake-setup: replace {THISDIR} token with an explicit keyword

["Antonin Godard" <antonin.godard@bootlin.com>]

Hi,

On Thu Nov 6, 2025 at 12:47 PM CET, Alexander Kanavin via lists.openembedded.org wrote:
> From: Alexander Kanavin <alex@linutronix.de>
>
> {THISDIR} is a special value token that can be used in the list of enabled
> layers to specify the layer location relative to the confguration file:
> https://git.openembedded.org/bitbake/commit/?id=b3153be29de8b8570b0c184369bd41f4c646cf92
>
> This replaces the token with an explicit separate keyword for such layers:
> so that special processing to determine the final value can be avoided, and
> the feature can be formalized in the json schema:
>
> instead of
>    "bb-layers": [
>         "{THISDIR}/meta-my-project"
>     ]
>
> this allows
>    "bb-layers-relative-to-this-file": [

Can I suggest naming it "bb-layers-local"? "bb-layers-relative-to-this-file"
feels bit overwhelming, I think with associated documentation users will be
able to figure what "local" stands for in this case.

I can't help but wonder: why is there a need to have a separate keyword? Can't
bitbake-setup do:

  for <layer> in bb-layers; do
    if <layer> is not in <sources>; then 
      if <layer> is found next to the .conf.json; then 
        use this local layer
      else
        error
      fi
    else
      use setup/layers/<layer>
    fi
  done

?

Antonin

-- 
Antonin Godard, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com