Re: [OE-core] [PATCH v2 1/3] bitbake.conf: Add conditional host tool getent

[Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Tue, 2025-02-04 at 11:53 +0100, Vyacheslav Yurkov via lists.openembedded.org wrote:
> From: Vyacheslav Yurkov <uvv.mail@gmail.com>
> 
> In case of systemd init mananger, it's required for the native build.
> Even though we don't build systemd natively, we might build some of its
> binaries, which need to run on the host system.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Vyacheslav Yurkov <uvv.mail@gmail.com>
> ---
>  meta/conf/bitbake.conf | 3 +++
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
> index 8b607088c6..6b1bfaf64e 100644
> --- a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
> +++ b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
> @@ -532,6 +532,9 @@ HOSTTOOLS += "${@'ip ping ps scp ssh stty' if (bb.utils.contains_any('IMAGE_CLAS
>  # Used by archiver.bbclass when compression is xz
>  HOSTTOOLS += "${@'xz' if (('archiver.bbclass' in (d.getVar('BBINCLUDED') or '')) and (d.getVarFlag('ARCHIVER_MODE', 'compression') == 'xz')) else ''}"
>  
> +# Native build of systemd tools requires getent utility
> +HOSTTOOLS += "${@bb.utils.contains('DISTRO_FEATURES', 'systemd', 'getent', '', d)}"
> +
>  # Link to these if present
>  HOSTTOOLS_NONFATAL += "aws gcc-ar gpg gpg-agent ld.bfd ld.gold nc pigz sftp socat ssh sudo"

I'm a bit nervous about relying on getent being present. It comes from
glibc and I'm a bit concerned about the host implications of depending
upon that. It certainly gives us a very specific host dependency
(unlike more generic things like coreutils).

Do we have any more information about where/why systemctl is using it
and whether we really do need it?

Cheers,

Richard