[docs][PATCH v2] ref-manual/tasks.rst: make do_clean description more explicit

[docs][PATCH v2] ref-manual/tasks.rst: make do_clean description more explicit

[Anis Bougrine]

From: anis <anis.bougrine10@gmail.com>

The current do_clean task description is generic and does not
specify which files will be removed.

This commit adds details about the files that are removed by
explicitly listing the affected subdirectories.

Signed-off-by: anis <anis.bougrine10@gmail.com>
Cc: Antonin Godard <antonin.godard@bootlin.com>
---
changes in v2:
- Submit the corresponding OE-Core changes, which have been merged as
  9b363e6d586863dc5e49795df9f1346836c466c5.
- Reformulate the sentence based on the v1 suggestions.
---
 documentation/ref-manual/tasks.rst | 9 +++++----
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/tasks.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/tasks.rst
index 3517d0b91..fa6ba255d 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/tasks.rst
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/tasks.rst
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ you can run:
    $ bitbake -c listtasks recipename
    do_build                              Default task for a recipe - depends on all other normal tasks required to 'build' a recipe
    do_checkuri                           Validates the SRC_URI value
-   do_clean                              Removes all output files for a target
+   do_clean                              Removes all output files for a target (``${WORKDIR}``, sstate manifests and stamps)
    do_cleanall                           Removes all output files, shared state cache, and downloaded source files for a target
    do_cleansstate                        Removes all output files and shared state cache for a target
    do_compile                            Compiles the source in the compilation directory
@@ -501,9 +501,10 @@ You can run this task using BitBake as follows::
 
    $ bitbake -c clean recipe
 
-Running this task does not remove the
-:ref:`sstate <overview-manual/concepts:shared state cache>` cache files.
-Consequently, if no changes have been made and the recipe is rebuilt
+Running this task removes the working directory of the recipe (represented by its :term:`WORKDIR` value),
+the sstate manifests and the :ref:`stamps <overview-manual/concepts:Stamp Files and the Rerunning of Tasks>`.
+However, it does not remove the :ref:`sstate <overview-manual/concepts:shared state cache>`
+cache files. Consequently, if no changes have been made and the recipe is rebuilt
 after cleaning, output files are simply restored from the sstate cache.
 If you want to remove the sstate cache files for the recipe, you need to
 use the :ref:`ref-tasks-cleansstate` task instead
-- 
2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)

Re: [docs][PATCH v2] ref-manual/tasks.rst: make do_clean description more explicit

[Antonin Godard]

Hi,

On Thu Aug 13, 2026 at 8:55 PM CEST, Anis Bougrine wrote:
> From: anis <anis.bougrine10@gmail.com>
>
> The current do_clean task description is generic and does not
> specify which files will be removed.
>
> This commit adds details about the files that are removed by
> explicitly listing the affected subdirectories.
>
> Signed-off-by: anis <anis.bougrine10@gmail.com>
> Cc: Antonin Godard <antonin.godard@bootlin.com>

Thanks, I've merged this to master-next with the do_clean description tweaked to
match your recent contribution to OE-Core.

Antonin