[Buildroot] cached downloads for scm branches

[Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr>]

Michael, All,

On 2016-10-20 19:27 +0200, Michael Walle spake thusly:
> Hi,
> 
> If I have a package which downloads it's source from a SCM branch, the
> download will be cached in DL_DIR/<pkgname>-<branchname>.tar.gz. This makes
> sense if the version is a tag or a (git) hash. But if used with branches,
> the package will never be downloaded again until I remove it from the
> DL_DIR. This may be the intended behaviour, but as far as I can tell, I have
> no chance to change it.

Yes, this is the intended behaviour: you should not use a branch names
or other unstable references Using a branch name makes the build
non-reproducible, and that is not good.

Only use stable references, like a tag or a sha1 or ...

If however you are actively working on the package, then you should use
the source-override mechanism instead:

  - create a local.mk file (in the directory where you ran 'make
    menuconfig')

  - in that file, add this line

        MY_PACKAGE_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR = /path/to/my-package

Then you can manage that location "by hand" (like pulling new changes...)
and have it automatically used by Buildroot:

    make my-package-rebuild

(and other such commands, see "make help" and the manual for the
complete set.)

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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