[Buildroot] Dynaminc Component System for Buildroot

[Arnout Vandecappelle <arnout@mind.be>]

On Monday 20 February 2012 08:45:48 Avishay Orpaz wrote:
> Hi
> I've been using buildroot for about two years for building embedded systems
> on various platforms. An embedded system usually comprises of a set of
> standard tool and custom software, scripts etc. Buildroot does great job on
> the first, but then I have to manually compile the project-specific
> software and install it in the target system created by buildroot.

 No you don't.  You have to manually create a Config.in and pkg.mk for
your project-specific software, using the 'local' SITE_METHOD.  You could
even skip the Config.in and just add a
TARGETS += pkg
at the end of the pkg.mk.

> In order
> to make workflow smoother, I have an idea of adding a dynamic component
> support for buildroot. In such a system, buildroot, when invoked, will scan
> a specific directory for components. Components are directories with some
> distinguishing feature (a special file or so) which contains buildroot .mk
> file. Those components will appear on buildroot configuration menu, will
> use the regular compilation-installation infrastructure it provides and
> will be installed in the target filesystem as any other, out-of-the-box
> component.

 We have that system: the packages directory.

 I agree that one limitation of the packages directory is that the
project-specific packages have to be created directly in the buildroot
tree.  But that can be overcome by adding a line like this to local.mk:
include <project-path>/*/*.mk


> I'm willing to put time and effort into building such an extension, but I
> would really like to get some feedback before I start, and to estimate the
> chances it would be merged into the buildroot mainline.

 Although my comments above may be a bit negative, I do believe that it
would be worthwhile to simplify the addition of project-specific packages
to buildroot.  It will get a lot of comments, though, so you'll probably
have more work with taking into account the reviews than with the 
implementation itself.

 So I would advise the following:
- make use of existing infrastructure (_SITE_METHOD=local, local.mk);
- make sure you post an RFC patch as soon as possible, to get some 
dicsussion started;
- don't expect it to be accepted in less than two months or so.


 Regards,
 Arnout

-- 
Arnout Vandecappelle                               arnout at mind be
Senior Embedded Software Architect                 +32-16-286540
Essensium/Mind                                     http://www.mind.be
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