[Buildroot] Suggestion for config menu help for path values

[Buildroot] Suggestion for config menu help for path values

[Grant Edwards]

Just a suggestion for anytime somebody is working on the config menu
help for an option that allows a path to be entered: always specify in
the item's help whether an absolute path is required, and if not,
where the starting point is for a relative path.

For several different options, it's taken me many guesses to figure
out from what working direction a relative path should be referenced.
When each guess requires a build from-scratch, you can spend hours
trying to figure out what path value to enter for a particular script
or config file.

Right now I'm trying to figure out the CWD when the post-build script
is called, and I'll submit a help patch when I figure out the answer.

Another source of confusion I've run into a few times are cases where
the title for a config item doesn't match up with either the config
variable name or the phrase commonly used elsewhere to refer to that
item.  For example, it takes a bit if digging to figure out that in
the config menus, what the documentation calls the "post-build
script", who's value is "BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT" is titled
"Custom script to run before packing files".

A title including the words "post build script" would seem to be a
more obvious/consistent choice.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! !  I'm in a very
                                  at               clever and adorable INSANE
                              gmail.com            ASYLUM!!

[Buildroot] Suggestion for config menu help for path values

[Grant Edwards]

On 2010-06-22, Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:

> Right now I'm trying to figure out the CWD when the post-build script
> is called, and I'll submit a help patch when I figure out the answer.

So far it appears buildroot looks in $PATH for the post-build script,
but I can't figure out what directories (if any) in the buildroot
source/build tree it looks in.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! You were s'posed
                                  at               to laugh!
                              gmail.com            

[Buildroot] Suggestion for config menu help for path values

[Thomas Petazzoni]

On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:10:57 +0000 (UTC)
Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:

> Just a suggestion for anytime somebody is working on the config menu
> help for an option that allows a path to be entered: always specify in
> the item's help whether an absolute path is required, and if not,
> where the starting point is for a relative path.
> 
> For several different options, it's taken me many guesses to figure
> out from what working direction a relative path should be referenced.
> When each guess requires a build from-scratch, you can spend hours
> trying to figure out what path value to enter for a particular script
> or config file.
> 
> Right now I'm trying to figure out the CWD when the post-build script
> is called, and I'll submit a help patch when I figure out the answer.

All Buildroot Makefiles are interpreted from the top Buildroot source
directory, as we only use Makefile inclusion and not recursive make.
So, in general, relative paths are interpreted relatively to the top
Buildroot source directory.

> Another source of confusion I've run into a few times are cases where
> the title for a config item doesn't match up with either the config
> variable name or the phrase commonly used elsewhere to refer to that
> item.  For example, it takes a bit if digging to figure out that in
> the config menus, what the documentation calls the "post-build
> script", who's value is "BR2_ROOTFS_POST_BUILD_SCRIPT" is titled
> "Custom script to run before packing files".

Don't hesitate to point us those inconsistencies, and either submit a
patch to fix them or ask us to do so :-)

Regards,

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
Kernel, drivers, real-time and embedded Linux
development, consulting, training and support.
http://free-electrons.com

[Buildroot] Suggestion for config menu help for path values

[Grant Edwards]

On 2010-06-23, Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni@free-electrons.com> wrote:

>> Right now I'm trying to figure out the CWD when the post-build script
>> is called, and I'll submit a help patch when I figure out the answer.
>
> All Buildroot Makefiles are interpreted from the top Buildroot source
> directory, as we only use Makefile inclusion and not recursive make.
> So, in general, relative paths are interpreted relatively to the top
> Buildroot source directory.

I had initially assumed that scripts belonged in the "scripts"
directory.  That didn't work.  Then I tried the top of the source
directory.  That didn't work either.  I finally figured out that the
script path wasn't interpreted relative to a fixed point, but it was
left up to the shell to find using the normal PATH mechanism (so it
had to be ./filename rather than filename).

I'll submit a patch to the docs.

> Don't hesitate to point us those inconsistencies, and either submit a
> patch to fix them or ask us to do so :-)

I will.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! It's a lot of fun
                                  at               being alive ... I wonder if
                              gmail.com            my bed is made?!?