[Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages from rootfs

[Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages from rootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
> 2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
>> Hi to all,
>>
>>  I never used buildroot before 5 days ago but it seems to me that once
>> a package has been activated in menuconfig a way to remove it from
>> rootfs is saving .configs, make distclean; make (i.e.: I compiled Xorg
>> modular and then I move on tinyx but tinyx keyboard was not working
>> because some incompatible craps remained on the rootfs).

 [cut]

>  A solution could be:
>
>  1) make checks for previous .config and un-install all removed packages (*)
>  2) make saves the current .config into
> project_build_$ARCH/$project_name/previous.config
>  3) people who lose some rootfs customization do it because they
> choose to remove packages (their fault)
>
>  (*) supposing all packages have a make uninstall which correctly work
> otherwise N patches would be delivered to achieve this result.
>

 A proof of concept of the proposed general solution is attached as
solution for bug report n.5564

 http://busybox.net/bugs/view.php?id=5564

 as you can see checkconfig.sh could be expanded to work on .config
changes and acts accordingly

 Cheers,
-- 
/roberto

[Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[John Schimandle]

I perform the following steps to rebuild the rootfs. It's fast and easy.

rm project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/.root
rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/root

Once these steps are done then the next make will copy in a clean skeleton
template and all the other Makefiles will notice the install targets are
missing and they will install all the targets. This is the cleanest and
fastest method I have found because this only copies files.

Maybe this should be added to the top level Makefile.

John


-----Original Message-----
From: buildroot-bounces@uclibc.org [mailto:buildroot-bounces at uclibc.org] On
Behalf Of Roberto A. Foglietta
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 5:06 AM
To: buildroot at uclibc.org
Subject: [Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages
fromrootfs

2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
> 2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
>> Hi to all,
>>
>>  I never used buildroot before 5 days ago but it seems to me that 
>> once a package has been activated in menuconfig a way to remove it 
>> from rootfs is saving .configs, make distclean; make (i.e.: I 
>> compiled Xorg modular and then I move on tinyx but tinyx keyboard was 
>> not working because some incompatible craps remained on the rootfs).

 [cut]

>  A solution could be:
>
>  1) make checks for previous .config and un-install all removed 
> packages (*)
>  2) make saves the current .config into 
> project_build_$ARCH/$project_name/previous.config
>  3) people who lose some rootfs customization do it because they 
> choose to remove packages (their fault)
>
>  (*) supposing all packages have a make uninstall which correctly work 
> otherwise N patches would be delivered to achieve this result.
>

 A proof of concept of the proposed general solution is attached as solution
for bug report n.5564

 http://busybox.net/bugs/view.php?id=5564

 as you can see checkconfig.sh could be expanded to work on .config changes
and acts accordingly

 Cheers,
--
/roberto
_______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot at uclibc.org
http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot

[Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/22 John Schimandle <john_schimandle@hotmail.com>:
> I perform the following steps to rebuild the rootfs. It's fast and easy.
>
> rm project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/.root
> rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/root
>
> Once these steps are done then the next make will copy in a clean skeleton
> template and all the other Makefiles will notice the install targets are
> missing and they will install all the targets. This is the cleanest and
> fastest method I have found because this only copies files.
>
> Maybe this should be added to the top level Makefile.
>

I have just tried this way but it installs only skeleton, dbus,
mcookie, busybox, kernel modules, kernel (in case), uClibc, some
libraries (expat, drm, dbus, png, z), rxvt:

roberto at rafbook:~/gles/buildroot$ du -ks project_build_i586/ugles/root
44680	project_build_i586/ugles/root

roberto at rafbook:~/gles/buildroot$ mv -f project_build_i586/ugles/root
project_build_i586/ugles/root.002
roberto at rafbook:~/gles/buildroot$ rm -f project_build_i586/ugles/.root
roberto at rafbook:~/gles/buildroot$ make
[...]
roberto at rafbook:~/gles/buildroot$ du -ks project_build_i586/ugles/root
6676	project_build_i586/ugles/root

However it does not resolve the problem to remove ONLY a package from
customized rootfs or reset some kernel config parameters back (i.e.:
bug report 5564).

 Cheers,
-- 
/roberto

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/22 John Schimandle <john_schimandle@hotmail.com>:
> I perform the following steps to rebuild the rootfs. It's fast and easy.
>
> rm project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/.root
> rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/root
>

^^^^ these lines are not enough and sometime are too much (i.e.: about
losing the customization)

rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/autotools-stamps

^^^^ this line resolves the problem to reinstall everything (apart
libfreetype which buggy installation put them in staging_dir but not
in target_dir)

> Once these steps are done then the next make will copy in a clean skeleton
> template and all the other Makefiles will notice the install targets are
> missing and they will install all the targets. This is the cleanest and
> fastest method I have found because this only copies files.
>
> Maybe this should be added to the top level Makefile.


Attached patch allow two more targets:

make install

or

make rootclean install


 I hope this helps,
-- 
/roberto
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Makefile-r23778.patch
Type: text/x-diff
Size: 1654 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://busybox.net/lists/buildroot/attachments/20081027/81eeb8f1/attachment.patch 

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Bernhard Reutner-Fischer]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:42:42PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>2008/10/22 John Schimandle <john_schimandle@hotmail.com>:
>> I perform the following steps to rebuild the rootfs. It's fast and easy.
>>
>> rm project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/.root
>> rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/root
>>
>
>^^^^ these lines are not enough and sometime are too much (i.e.: about
>losing the customization)
>
>rm -rf project_build_ARCH/PROJECT/autotools-stamps
>
>^^^^ this line resolves the problem to reinstall everything (apart
>libfreetype which buggy installation put them in staging_dir but not
>in target_dir)
>
>> Once these steps are done then the next make will copy in a clean skeleton
>> template and all the other Makefiles will notice the install targets are
>> missing and they will install all the targets. This is the cleanest and
>> fastest method I have found because this only copies files.
>>
>> Maybe this should be added to the top level Makefile.
>
>
>Attached patch allow two more targets:
>
>make install
>
>or
>
>make rootclean install
>
>
> I hope this helps,
>-- 
>/roberto

>--- Makefile	(revision 23784)
>+++ Makefile	(working copy)
>@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@
> 		touch $(STAGING_DIR)/.fakeroot.00000; \
> 	fi
> 	-find $(TARGET_DIR) -type d -name CVS -o -name .svn | xargs rm -rf
>-	-find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty | xargs rm -rf	
>+	-find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty -delete
> 	touch $@
> 
> $(TARGET_DIR): $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@
> 	find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.a' -delete
> 	find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib -name '*.la' -delete
> 	find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>+	find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name '*~' -delete

No. Use xargs instead.
> endif
> 
> source: $(TARGETS_SOURCE) $(HOST_SOURCE)
>@@ -357,6 +358,19 @@
> # Cleanup and misc junk
> #
> #############################################################
>+
>+install: softclean all
>+	# TODO: to fix this bug in the proper way
>+	name=$$(find $(STAGING_DIR) -name 'libfreetype.so'); \
>+	dest=$$(dirname $$name | sed -e "s,$(STAGING_DIR),$(TARGET_DIR),"); \
>+	cp -af $$name* $$dest; $(STRIPCMD) $(STRIP_STRIP_UNNEEDED) $$dest/libfreetype.so
>+	
>+rootclean:
>+	rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>+
>+softclean:
>+	rm -rf $(IMAGE) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>+

No. Adding yet more targets makes absolutely no sense at all.
Just make 'make clean' wipe the stamps and let 'make realclean' wipe the
built stuff.

And DOCUMENT that stuff in 'make help'!
If you don't document it then the NACK and revert is implied.

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/27 Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:42:42PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:

[...]

>
>>--- Makefile   (revision 23784)
>>+++ Makefile   (working copy)
>>@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@
>>               touch $(STAGING_DIR)/.fakeroot.00000; \
>>       fi
>>       -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type d -name CVS -o -name .svn | xargs rm -rf
>>-      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty | xargs rm -rf
>>+      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty -delete
>>       touch $@
>>
>> $(TARGET_DIR): $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@
>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.a' -delete
>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>+      find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name '*~' -delete
>
> No. Use xargs instead.

 Why?

>> source: $(TARGETS_SOURCE) $(HOST_SOURCE)
>>@@ -357,6 +358,19 @@
>> # Cleanup and misc junk
>> #
>> #############################################################
>>+
>>+install: softclean all
>>+      # TODO: to fix this bug in the proper way
>>+      name=$$(find $(STAGING_DIR) -name 'libfreetype.so'); \
>>+      dest=$$(dirname $$name | sed -e "s,$(STAGING_DIR),$(TARGET_DIR),"); \
>>+      cp -af $$name* $$dest; $(STRIPCMD) $(STRIP_STRIP_UNNEEDED) $$dest/libfreetype.so
>>+
>>+rootclean:
>>+      rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>+
>>+softclean:
>>+      rm -rf $(IMAGE) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>>+
>
> No. Adding yet more targets makes absolutely no sense at all.
> Just make 'make clean' wipe the stamps and let 'make realclean' wipe the
> built stuff.

clean remove a lot of things not only the stamps

clean: $(TARGETS_CLEAN)
	rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR) $(TARGET_DIR) $(IMAGE)
$(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps

a) you want reinstall things in root because they have been corrupted
without loosing your customization on scripts/configurations:

make install (which for work correctly need to do: softclean all, this
is the reason because softclean exist)

b) you want remove root and remade it from scratch

make rootclean install

in both a) and b) cases you want do these things in the fastest way.


>
> And DOCUMENT that stuff in 'make help'!
> If you don't document it then the NACK and revert is implied.
>

 I will made some tests in order to show you how much time people can
save in using some targets appropriately. Then if you will agree with
me that those targets are really useful I will document them. Testing
extensively the buildroot in many configuration implies to move AS
FAST AS POSSIBLE from one build to another one without recompiling the
WORLD.

 Cheers,
-- 
/roberto

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Bernhard Reutner-Fischer]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:11:12PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>2008/10/27 Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>:
>> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:42:42PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>
>[...]
>
>>
>>>--- Makefile   (revision 23784)
>>>+++ Makefile   (working copy)
>>>@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@
>>>               touch $(STAGING_DIR)/.fakeroot.00000; \
>>>       fi
>>>       -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type d -name CVS -o -name .svn | xargs rm -rf
>>>-      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty | xargs rm -rf
>>>+      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty -delete
>>>       touch $@
>>>
>>> $(TARGET_DIR): $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>>@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@
>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.a' -delete
>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>>+      find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name '*~' -delete
>>
>> No. Use xargs instead.
>
> Why?

config FEATURE_FIND_DELETE
        bool "Enable -delete option allowing to delete files"
        default n

>>> source: $(TARGETS_SOURCE) $(HOST_SOURCE)
>>>@@ -357,6 +358,19 @@
>>> # Cleanup and misc junk
>>> #
>>> #############################################################
>>>+
>>>+install: softclean all
>>>+      # TODO: to fix this bug in the proper way
>>>+      name=$$(find $(STAGING_DIR) -name 'libfreetype.so'); \
>>>+      dest=$$(dirname $$name | sed -e "s,$(STAGING_DIR),$(TARGET_DIR),"); \
>>>+      cp -af $$name* $$dest; $(STRIPCMD) $(STRIP_STRIP_UNNEEDED) $$dest/libfreetype.so
>>>+
>>>+rootclean:
>>>+      rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>>+
>>>+softclean:
>>>+      rm -rf $(IMAGE) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>>>+
>>
>> No. Adding yet more targets makes absolutely no sense at all.
>> Just make 'make clean' wipe the stamps and let 'make realclean' wipe the
>> built stuff.
>
>clean remove a lot of things not only the stamps
>
>clean: $(TARGETS_CLEAN)
>	rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR) $(TARGET_DIR) $(IMAGE)
>$(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>
>a) you want reinstall things in root because they have been corrupted
>without loosing your customization on scripts/configurations:
>
>make install (which for work correctly need to do: softclean all, this
>is the reason because softclean exist)
>
>b) you want remove root and remade it from scratch
>
>make rootclean install
>
>in both a) and b) cases you want do these things in the fastest way.

Work out a setup which deals fine via
- clean
- realclean
- distclean

Everything else is too finegrained and doesn't help since it's not
intuitive.

>> And DOCUMENT that stuff in 'make help'!

> I will made some tests in order to show you how much time people can
>save in using some targets appropriately. Then if you will agree with
>me that those targets are really useful I will document them. Testing
>extensively the buildroot in many configuration implies to move AS
>FAST AS POSSIBLE from one build to another one without recompiling the
>WORLD.

I don't care about that, personally.
My tree is at least 50% faster when configuring stuff
(AUTO_CONFIGURE_TARGET) and furthermore compiles packages correctly, as
opposed to the thing you're using.

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/27 Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:11:12PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>>2008/10/27 Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>:
>>> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 09:42:42PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>>
>>[...]
>>
>>>
>>>>--- Makefile   (revision 23784)
>>>>+++ Makefile   (working copy)
>>>>@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@
>>>>               touch $(STAGING_DIR)/.fakeroot.00000; \
>>>>       fi
>>>>       -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type d -name CVS -o -name .svn | xargs rm -rf
>>>>-      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty | xargs rm -rf
>>>>+      -find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name .empty -delete
>>>>       touch $@
>>>>
>>>> $(TARGET_DIR): $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>>>@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@
>>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.a' -delete
>>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>>>       find $(TARGET_DIR)/lib -name '*.la' -delete
>>>>+      find $(TARGET_DIR) -type f -name '*~' -delete
>>>
>>> No. Use xargs instead.
>>
>> Why?
>
> config FEATURE_FIND_DELETE
>        bool "Enable -delete option allowing to delete files"
>        default n
>

 Ok, I only emulate people who has used -delete before me. However in
this case we are using $HOST command-set and it is supposed that
busybox has CONFIG_DESKTOP=y and many other fancy features:

roberto at rafbook:~/busybox-1.11.3$ make defconfig
roberto at rafbook:~/busybox-1.11.3$ grep FEATURE_FIND_DELETE .config
CONFIG_FEATURE_FIND_DELETE=y

 There is a problem with xargs: if nothing has been found the line
fails with error.

>>>> source: $(TARGETS_SOURCE) $(HOST_SOURCE)
>>>>@@ -357,6 +358,19 @@
>>>> # Cleanup and misc junk
>>>> #
>>>> #############################################################
>>>>+
>>>>+install: softclean all
>>>>+      # TODO: to fix this bug in the proper way
>>>>+      name=$$(find $(STAGING_DIR) -name 'libfreetype.so'); \
>>>>+      dest=$$(dirname $$name | sed -e "s,$(STAGING_DIR),$(TARGET_DIR),"); \
>>>>+      cp -af $$name* $$dest; $(STRIPCMD) $(STRIP_STRIP_UNNEEDED) $$dest/libfreetype.so
>>>>+
>>>>+rootclean:
>>>>+      rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root
>>>>+
>>>>+softclean:
>>>>+      rm -rf $(IMAGE) $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>>>>+
>>>
>>> No. Adding yet more targets makes absolutely no sense at all.
>>> Just make 'make clean' wipe the stamps and let 'make realclean' wipe the
>>> built stuff.
>>
>>clean remove a lot of things not only the stamps
>>
>>clean: $(TARGETS_CLEAN)
>>       rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR) $(TARGET_DIR) $(IMAGE)
>>$(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>>
>>a) you want reinstall things in root because they have been corrupted
>>without loosing your customization on scripts/configurations:
>>
>>make install (which for work correctly need to do: softclean all, this
>>is the reason because softclean exist)
>>
>>b) you want remove root and remade it from scratch
>>
>>make rootclean install
>>
>>in both a) and b) cases you want do these things in the fastest way.
>
> Work out a setup which deals fine via
> - clean
> - realclean
> - distclean
>
> Everything else is too finegrained and doesn't help since it's not
> intuitive.
>

ok, being intuitive for the user is also my mantra. I will propose to add only

 - install

which works in this way just because it is the fastest way I know to write it:

install: softclean all

softclean:
           bla bla

In that way users should take care only about install which is a
'standard' target


>>> And DOCUMENT that stuff in 'make help'!
>
>> I will made some tests in order to show you how much time people can
>>save in using some targets appropriately. Then if you will agree with
>>me that those targets are really useful I will document them. Testing
>>extensively the buildroot in many configuration implies to move AS
>>FAST AS POSSIBLE from one build to another one without recompiling the
>>WORLD.
>
> I don't care about that, personally.
> My tree is at least 50% faster when configuring stuff
> (AUTO_CONFIGURE_TARGET) and furthermore compiles packages correctly, as
> opposed to the thing you're using.
>

 Faster is faster, it is a relative value: two ways to be faster is
better than one only.

 Being correct is an absolute value: 0 or 1. Having a install target
should not be wrong.


 Thanks,
-- 
/roberto
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Makefile-r23778.patch2
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 2296 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://busybox.net/lists/buildroot/attachments/20081027/40c4a320/attachment.obj 

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Hamish Moffatt]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:11:12PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
> clean remove a lot of things not only the stamps
> 
> clean: $(TARGETS_CLEAN)
> 	rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR) $(TARGET_DIR) $(IMAGE)
> $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
> 
> a) you want reinstall things in root because they have been corrupted
> without loosing your customization on scripts/configurations:

You shouldn't edit anything in $(TARGET_DIR) yourself - edit the
source, then rebuild.

However, there does need to be a way to copy the target_skeleton over
the root directory again in case you've edited files (startup scripts,
passwd file, fstab etc). And you might not want to copy this over an
existing $(TARGET_DIR), because then you might lose changes made
by packages.

I didn't understand your softclean and rootclean targets though. Here's
what I have added to my own tree:

root-clean:
	rm -rf $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps $(TARGET_DIR)


Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <hamish@debian.org> <hamish@cloud.net.au>

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Avoid make distclean to remove packages fromrootfs

[Roberto A. Foglietta]

2008/10/28 Hamish Moffatt <hamish@cloud.net.au>:
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:11:12PM +0100, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>> clean remove a lot of things not only the stamps
>>
>> clean: $(TARGETS_CLEAN)
>>       rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR) $(TARGET_DIR) $(IMAGE)
>> $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps
>>
>> a) you want reinstall things in root because they have been corrupted
>> without loosing your customization on scripts/configurations:
>
> You shouldn't edit anything in $(TARGET_DIR) yourself - edit the
> source, then rebuild.

Yes and no.
Yes you are right once I know what I want to do on the source.
No, you are not right if I have to play with rootfs until I decide.


>
> However, there does need to be a way to copy the target_skeleton over
> the root directory again in case you've edited files (startup scripts,
> passwd file, fstab etc). And you might not want to copy this over an
> existing $(TARGET_DIR), because then you might lose changes made
> by packages.
>
> I didn't understand your softclean and rootclean targets though. Here's
> what I have added to my own tree:
>

my 'softclean' is an internal target in order to do 'install' target.

> root-clean:
>        rm -rf $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/.root $(PROJECT_BUILD_DIR)/autotools-stamps $(TARGET_DIR)
>
>

ok, so it seems to me that: install and rootclean could be two
acceptable targets to add.

here you are a newer version of the patch

+	@echo '  rootclean		- delete all rootfs content

+	@echo '  install		- (re)install rootfs but not skeleton if it exists'


Cheers,
-- 
/roberto
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Makefile-r23778.patch3
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 2568 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://busybox.net/lists/buildroot/attachments/20081028/4492baf1/attachment.obj 

[Buildroot] [RFC] Avoid make distclean to remove packages from rootfs

[Bernhard Reutner-Fischer]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 02:06:09PM +0200, Roberto A. Foglietta wrote:
>2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
>> 2008/10/21 Roberto A. Foglietta <roberto.foglietta@gmail.com>:
>>> Hi to all,
>>>
>>>  I never used buildroot before 5 days ago but it seems to me that once
>>> a package has been activated in menuconfig a way to remove it from
>>> rootfs is saving .configs, make distclean; make (i.e.: I compiled Xorg
>>> modular and then I move on tinyx but tinyx keyboard was not working
>>> because some incompatible craps remained on the rootfs).
>
> [cut]
>
>>  A solution could be:
>>
>>  1) make checks for previous .config and un-install all removed packages (*)
>>  2) make saves the current .config into
>> project_build_$ARCH/$project_name/previous.config
>>  3) people who lose some rootfs customization do it because they
>> choose to remove packages (their fault)
>>
>>  (*) supposing all packages have a make uninstall which correctly work
>> otherwise N patches would be delivered to achieve this result.
>>
>
> A proof of concept of the proposed general solution is attached as
>solution for bug report n.5564

First, bash scripts are not acceptable. The "binary" is something from
ulf.
>
> http://busybox.net/bugs/view.php?id=5564
>
> as you can see checkconfig.sh could be expanded to work on .config
>changes and acts accordingly

no, this is not the proper thing to do.

Your solution #1 is already done.
Solutiln #2 would be to just

index 0325132..19aa785 100644
--- a/target/linux/Makefile.in
+++ b/target/linux/Makefile.in
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_INITRAMFS),y)
 	echo "CONFIG_INITRAMFS_ROOT_UID=0" >> $(LINUX26_DIR)/.config
 	echo "CONFIG_INITRAMFS_ROOT_GID=0" >> $(LINUX26_DIR)/.config
 else
-	echo "CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=\"\"" >> $(LINUX26_DIR)/.config
+	echo "# CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE is not set" >>
$(LINUX26_DIR)/.config
 endif
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_INITRAMFS),y)
 	# precedence for a small initramfs


and your #3 is definitely not correct.

What you seem to be referring to above is that that if you unselect a
package, it is not automagically -clean and -dircleaned, IIUC.
Short of just rm -rf *_${YOURARCH}* && make, you could run the
respective -clean target. Note that alot of them do not cleanup properly
anyway, i.e. need improvement.