[PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[mark.jonas]

From: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>

When creating an SDK, the populate_sdk task relies on
COMPLEMENTARY_GLOB[dev-pkgs] to decide which packages to install [1].

However, xorgproto is a header-only library, so bitbake does not emit a
main package. The only reference to the -dev package is an RRECOMMENDS
from the -dbg package, and such weak links are not honored when
installing complementary packages [2].

Fix this by setting ALLOW_EMPTY for the xorgproto package. The main
package is now emitted, which makes ${PN}-dev reachable through the
complementary packages and lets recipes that depend on xorgproto be
built with the SDK.

[1] https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/classes-recipe/populate_sdk_base.bbclass#n38
[2] https://docs.yoctoproject.org/ref-manual/variables.html#term-COMPLEMENTARY_GLOB

Signed-off-by: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
Signed-off-by: Mark Jonas <mark.jonas@de.bosch.com>
---
 meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
index e187c56fbc..df09135e27 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
@@ -23,3 +23,6 @@ DEV_PKG_DEPENDENCY = ""
 RRECOMMENDS:${PN}-dbg = "${PN}-dev (= ${EXTENDPKGV})"
 
 BBCLASSEXTEND = "native nativesdk"
+
+# This is a header only library - thus everything lands in the -dev package
+ALLOW_EMPTY:${PN} = "1"
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[Paul Barker]

On Fri, 2026-09-18 at 16:18 +0200, mark.jonas@de.bosch.com wrote:
> From: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> 
> When creating an SDK, the populate_sdk task relies on
> COMPLEMENTARY_GLOB[dev-pkgs] to decide which packages to install [1].
> 
> However, xorgproto is a header-only library, so bitbake does not emit a
> main package. The only reference to the -dev package is an RRECOMMENDS
> from the -dbg package, and such weak links are not honored when
> installing complementary packages [2].
> 
> Fix this by setting ALLOW_EMPTY for the xorgproto package. The main
> package is now emitted, which makes ${PN}-dev reachable through the
> complementary packages and lets recipes that depend on xorgproto be
> built with the SDK.
> 
> [1] https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/classes-recipe/populate_sdk_base.bbclass#n38
> [2] https://docs.yoctoproject.org/ref-manual/variables.html#term-COMPLEMENTARY_GLOB
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> Signed-off-by: Mark Jonas <mark.jonas@de.bosch.com>
> ---
>  meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb | 3 +++
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> index e187c56fbc..df09135e27 100644
> --- a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> +++ b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> @@ -23,3 +23,6 @@ DEV_PKG_DEPENDENCY = ""
>  RRECOMMENDS:${PN}-dbg = "${PN}-dev (= ${EXTENDPKGV})"
>  
>  BBCLASSEXTEND = "native nativesdk"
> +
> +# This is a header only library - thus everything lands in the -dev package
> +ALLOW_EMPTY:${PN} = "1"

Hi Mark, Ricardo,

I built the SDK for core-image-sato, and this already includes
xorgproto-dev without applying this patch. I can see the package listed
in the target manifest and I can see usr/include/X11/X.h in the target
sysroot.

Could you provide a bit more info on the SDK you're building, any local
config changes, etc, so I can reproduce the issue?

Best regards,

-- 
Paul Barker

AW: [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[Jonas Mark (BT-EL/ESW1)]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for looking into this.

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Paul Barker <paul@pbarker.dev>
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 30. September 2026 11:19
> An: Jonas Mark (BT-EL/ESW1) <mark.jonas@de.bosch.com>; openembedded-
> core@lists.openembedded.org
> Cc: wangmy@fujitsu.com; mathieu.dubois-briand@bootlin.com; Simoes
> Ricardo (BT-EL/ESW2) <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> Betreff: Re: [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package
> 
> On Fri, 2026-09-18 at 16:18 +0200, mark.jonas@de.bosch.com wrote:
> > From: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> >
> > When creating an SDK, the populate_sdk task relies on
> > COMPLEMENTARY_GLOB[dev-pkgs] to decide which packages to install
> [1].
> >
> > However, xorgproto is a header-only library, so bitbake does not
> emit
> > a main package. The only reference to the -dev package is an
> > RRECOMMENDS from the -dbg package, and such weak links are not
> honored
> > when installing complementary packages [2].
> >
> > Fix this by setting ALLOW_EMPTY for the xorgproto package. The main
> > package is now emitted, which makes ${PN}-dev reachable through the
> > complementary packages and lets recipes that depend on xorgproto be
> > built with the SDK.
> >
> > [1]
> >
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgit.
> > openembedded.org%2Fopenembedded-core%2Ftree%2Fmeta%2Fclasses-
> recipe%2F
> >
> populate_sdk_base.bbclass%23n38&data=05%7C02%7Cmark.jonas%40de.bosch.c
> >
> om%7Caab8cf3183ca4239566f08df1ed3e999%7C0ae51e1907c84e4bbb6d648ee58410
> >
> f4%7C0%7C0%7C639263567650300241%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcG
> >
> kiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoy
> >
> fQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=f9cFsWo%2BKHygCkswyUibFR5HSatvEJebVEPq6%2F
> > n%2BEso%3D&reserved=0 [2]
> >
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs
> > .yoctoproject.org%2Fref-manual%2Fvariables.html%23term-
> COMPLEMENTARY_G
> >
> LOB&data=05%7C02%7Cmark.jonas%40de.bosch.com%7Caab8cf3183ca4239566f08d
> >
> f1ed3e999%7C0ae51e1907c84e4bbb6d648ee58410f4%7C0%7C0%7C639263567650353
> >
> 303%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMC
> >
> IsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=
> > bj372IW8yy1wIQ3J7oIMEXlv2knUrzqUGxtFSPrNhNg%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Ricardo Simoes <ricardo.simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Mark Jonas <mark.jonas@de.bosch.com>
> > ---
> >  meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb | 3 +++
> >  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> > b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> > index e187c56fbc..df09135e27 100644
> > --- a/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> > +++ b/meta/recipes-graphics/xorg-proto/xorgproto_2025.1.bb
> > @@ -23,3 +23,6 @@ DEV_PKG_DEPENDENCY = ""
> >  RRECOMMENDS:${PN}-dbg = "${PN}-dev (= ${EXTENDPKGV})"
> >
> >  BBCLASSEXTEND = "native nativesdk"
> > +
> > +# This is a header only library - thus everything lands in the -dev
> > +package ALLOW_EMPTY:${PN} = "1"
> 
> Hi Mark, Ricardo,
> 
> I built the SDK for core-image-sato, and this already includes
> xorgproto-dev without applying this patch. I can see the package
> listed in the target manifest and I can see usr/include/X11/X.h in the
> target sysroot.
> 
> Could you provide a bit more info on the SDK you're building, any
> local config changes, etc, so I can reproduce the issue?

We were a little brief on our explanations in the commit message. So we sat down to create a hopefully reproducible demo of the problem.

For reproducing with used core-image-base and local.conf containing the following:

MACHINE ??= "qemuarm"
USER_CLASSES ?= "buildstats"
PATCHRESOLVE = "noop"
BB_DISKMON_DIRS ??= "\
    STOPTASKS,${TMPDIR},1G,100K \
    STOPTASKS,${DL_DIR},1G,100K \
    STOPTASKS,${SSTATE_DIR},1G,100K \
    STOPTASKS,/tmp,100M,100K \
    HALT,${TMPDIR},100M,1K \
    HALT,${DL_DIR},100M,1K \
    HALT,${SSTATE_DIR},100M,1K \
    HALT,/tmp,10M,1K"
CONF_VERSION = "2"
DEPENDS:append:pn-base-files = " xorgproto"
RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto"
DISTRO_FEATURES:forcevariable = "systemd usrmerge ext2 ipv4 vfat gobject-instrospection-data ldconfig multiarch"
DISTRO_FEATURES_OPTED_OUT = "*"

When we compile core-image-base then without our fix we get the following error:

$ bitbake core-image-base -c populate_sdk

NOTE: Executing Tasks
ERROR: core-image-base-1.0-r0 do_populate_sdk: Unable to install packages. Command '['/media/workspace/yocto_master/build/tmp/work/qemuarm-oe-linux-gnueabi/core-image-base/1.0/recipe-sysroot-native/usr/bin/opkg', '--volatile-cache', '-f', '/media/workspace/yocto_master/build/tmp/work/qemuarm-oe-linux-gnueabi/core-image-base/1.0/opkg-sdk-target.conf', '-t', '/media/workspace/yocto_master/build/tmp/work/qemuarm-oe-linux-gnueabi/core-image-base/1.0/temp/ipktemp/', '-o', '/media/workspace/yocto_master/build/tmp/work/qemuarm-oe-linux-gnueabi/core-image-base/1.0/sdk/image/usr/local/oe-sdk-hardcoded-buildpath/sysroots/cortexa15t2hf-neon-oe-linux-gnueabi', '--force-postinstall', '--prefer-arch-to-version', '--force-checksum', 'install', 'packagegroup-base-extended', 'packagegroup-core-boot', 'packagegroup-core-standalone-sdk-target', 'psplash', 'run-postinsts', 'target-sdk-provides-dummy']' returned 1:
Solver encountered 1 problem(s):
Problem 1/1:
  - package packagegroup-core-boot-1.0-r0.qemuarm requires base-files, but none of the providers can be installed
  - conflicting requests
  - nothing provides xorgproto needed by base-files-3.0.14-r0.qemuarm

Solution 1:
  - do not ask to install a package providing packagegroup-core-boot



ERROR: Logfile of failure stored in: /media/workspace/yocto_master/build/tmp/work/qemuarm-oe-linux-gnueabi/core-image-base/1.0/temp/log.do_populate_sdk.3071259
ERROR: Task (/media/workspace/yocto_master/openembedded-core/meta/recipes-core/images/core-image-base.bb:do_populate_sdk) failed with exit code '1'
NOTE: Tasks Summary: Attempted 4485 tasks of which 4475 didn't need to be rerun and 1 failed.


Are you able to reproduce the problem using our setup above?

Is our fix the right way to tackle the build issue we see?

> 
> Best regards,
> 
> --
> Paul Barker

Cheers,
Mark

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[Richard Purdie]

On Thu, 2026-10-01 at 09:00 +0000, Mark Jonas via lists.openembedded.org wrote:
> 
> We were a little brief on our explanations in the commit message. So
> we sat down to create a hopefully reproducible demo of the problem.
> 
> For reproducing with used core-image-base and local.conf containing
> the following:
> 
> MACHINE ??= "qemuarm"
> USER_CLASSES ?= "buildstats"
> PATCHRESOLVE = "noop"
> BB_DISKMON_DIRS ??= "\
>     STOPTASKS,${TMPDIR},1G,100K \
>     STOPTASKS,${DL_DIR},1G,100K \
>     STOPTASKS,${SSTATE_DIR},1G,100K \
>     STOPTASKS,/tmp,100M,100K \
>     HALT,${TMPDIR},100M,1K \
>     HALT,${DL_DIR},100M,1K \
>     HALT,${SSTATE_DIR},100M,1K \
>     HALT,/tmp,10M,1K"
> CONF_VERSION = "2"
> DEPENDS:append:pn-base-files = " xorgproto"
> RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto"
> DISTRO_FEATURES:forcevariable = "systemd usrmerge ext2 ipv4 vfat
> gobject-instrospection-data ldconfig multiarch"
> DISTRO_FEATURES_OPTED_OUT = "*"

You're setting RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto" and xorgproto
doesn't exist so it isn't surprising the image generation fails as
such. Did you over simplify the reproducer?

Cheers,

Richard

AW: [OE-core] [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[Jonas Mark (BT-EL/ESW1)]

Hi Richard,

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 1. Oktober 2026 13:28
> An: Jonas Mark (BT-EL/ESW1) <mark.jonas@de.bosch.com>; Paul Barker
> <paul@pbarker.dev>; openembedded-core@lists.openembedded.org
> Cc: wangmy@fujitsu.com; mathieu.dubois-briand@bootlin.com; Simoes
> Ricardo (BT-EL/ESW2) <Ricardo.Simoes@pt.bosch.com>
> Betreff: Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main
> package
> 
> On Thu, 2026-10-01 at 09:00 +0000, Mark Jonas via
> lists.openembedded.org wrote:
> >
> > We were a little brief on our explanations in the commit message. So
> > we sat down to create a hopefully reproducible demo of the problem.
> >
> > For reproducing with used core-image-base and local.conf containing
> > the following:
> >
> > MACHINE ??= "qemuarm"
> > USER_CLASSES ?= "buildstats"
> > PATCHRESOLVE = "noop"
> > BB_DISKMON_DIRS ??= "\
> >     STOPTASKS,${TMPDIR},1G,100K \
> >     STOPTASKS,${DL_DIR},1G,100K \
> >     STOPTASKS,${SSTATE_DIR},1G,100K \
> >     STOPTASKS,/tmp,100M,100K \
> >     HALT,${TMPDIR},100M,1K \
> >     HALT,${DL_DIR},100M,1K \
> >     HALT,${SSTATE_DIR},100M,1K \
> >     HALT,/tmp,10M,1K"
> > CONF_VERSION = "2"
> > DEPENDS:append:pn-base-files = " xorgproto"
> > RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto"
> > DISTRO_FEATURES:forcevariable = "systemd usrmerge ext2 ipv4 vfat
> > gobject-instrospection-data ldconfig multiarch"
> > DISTRO_FEATURES_OPTED_OUT = "*"
> 
> You're setting RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto" and xorgproto
> doesn't exist so it isn't surprising the image generation fails as
> such. Did you over simplify the reproducer?

You are right, we tried to simply our scenario as much as possible - maybe too much.

We are now working on creating an absolute minimum meta-layer, a recipe, and an image to reproduce the issue.

The rough sketch is that we will have a foo-program.bb recipe which depends on xorgproto. It builds foo.c which uses a constant from a xorgproto header file. There will be an image foo-image.bb which includes core-image-base and rdepends on foo-program. What then happens is that the SDK generated will not contain xorgproto-dev.

What is interesting is that something must have happened between Kirkstone and Wrynose: With Kirkstone the above still worked. That is, xorgproto-dev was "automatically" part of the SDK. Even without adding it to the RDEPENDS.

Cheers,
Mark

AW: [OE-core] [PATCH] xorgproto: Set ALLOW_EMPTY for the main package

[Jonas Mark (BT-EL/ESW1)]

Hi Richard and Paul,

> > > We were a little brief on our explanations in the commit message.
> So
> > > we sat down to create a hopefully reproducible demo of the
> problem.
> > >
> > > For reproducing with used core-image-base and local.conf
> containing
> > > the following:
> > >
> > > MACHINE ??= "qemuarm"
> > > USER_CLASSES ?= "buildstats"
> > > PATCHRESOLVE = "noop"
> > > BB_DISKMON_DIRS ??= "\
> > >     STOPTASKS,${TMPDIR},1G,100K \
> > >     STOPTASKS,${DL_DIR},1G,100K \
> > >     STOPTASKS,${SSTATE_DIR},1G,100K \
> > >     STOPTASKS,/tmp,100M,100K \
> > >     HALT,${TMPDIR},100M,1K \
> > >     HALT,${DL_DIR},100M,1K \
> > >     HALT,${SSTATE_DIR},100M,1K \
> > >     HALT,/tmp,10M,1K"
> > > CONF_VERSION = "2"
> > > DEPENDS:append:pn-base-files = " xorgproto"
> > > RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto"
> > > DISTRO_FEATURES:forcevariable = "systemd usrmerge ext2 ipv4 vfat
> > > gobject-instrospection-data ldconfig multiarch"
> > > DISTRO_FEATURES_OPTED_OUT = "*"
> >
> > You're setting RDEPENDS:base-files:append = " xorgproto" and
> xorgproto
> > doesn't exist so it isn't surprising the image generation fails as
> > such. Did you over simplify the reproducer?
> 
> You are right, we tried to simply our scenario as much as possible -
> maybe too much.
> 
> We are now working on creating an absolute minimum meta-layer, a
> recipe, and an image to reproduce the issue.
> 
> The rough sketch is that we will have a foo-program.bb recipe which
> depends on xorgproto. It builds foo.c which uses a constant from a
> xorgproto header file. There will be an image foo-image.bb which
> includes core-image-base and rdepends on foo-program. What then
> happens is that the SDK generated will not contain xorgproto-dev.
> 
> What is interesting is that something must have happened between
> Kirkstone and Wrynose: With Kirkstone the above still worked. That is,
> xorgproto-dev was "automatically" part of the SDK. Even without adding
> it to the RDEPENDS.

We created a minimal meta-layer which illustrates the issue we see. You can do the following to reproduce the issue:

Clone meta-foo
$ git clone https://github.com/rugsi/meta-foo.git

Build SDK for foo-image of meta-foo
$ kas build kas-meta-foo.yml --target foo-image -c populate_sdk

It will build just fine. Nonetheless, the SDK will not contain xorgproto-dev.

$ grep -c xorgproto build/tmp/deploy/sdk/poky-glibc-x86_64-foo-image-cortexa15t2hf-neon-qemuarm-toolchain-6.0.99+snapshot.target.manifest
0

Once you apply our patch and add RDEPENDS:foo-program = "xorgproto" to foo-program.bb, the SDK will contain xorgproto-dev.

Our image-foo bases on core-image-base. We did another test basing foo-image on core-image-sato and adding X11 to the distro features. There, our patch is not needed and the SDK contains xorgproto-dev. We do not understand why, though. We think that this is essentially what Paul tested.

We will be on the OSSEU next week. Our email replies could be slower then. But maybe we can have a chat at the venue.

Cheers,
Mark