path: root/docs/manual/adding-packages-directory.txt

// -*- mode:doc; -*-
// vim: set syntax=asciidoc:

=== Package directory

First of all, create a directory under the +package+ directory for
your software, for example +libfoo+.

Some packages have been grouped by topic in a sub-directory:
+x11r7+, +qt5+ and +gstreamer+. If your package fits in
one of these categories, then create your package directory in these.
New subdirectories are discouraged, however.

=== Config files

For the package to be displayed in the configuration tool, you need to
create a Config file in your package directory. There are two types:
+Config.in+ and +Config.in.host+.

==== +Config.in+ file

For packages used on the target, create a file named +Config.in+. This
file will contain the option descriptions related to our +libfoo+ software
that will be used and displayed in the configuration tool. It should basically
contain:

---------------------------
config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO
	bool "libfoo"
	help
	  This is a comment that explains what libfoo is. The help text
	  should be wrapped.

	  http://foosoftware.org/libfoo/
---------------------------

The +bool+ line, +help+ line and other metadata information about the
configuration option must be indented with one tab. The help text
itself should be indented with one tab and two spaces, lines should
be wrapped to fit 72 columns, where tab counts for 8, so 62 characters
in the text itself. The help text must mention the upstream URL of the
project after an empty line.

As a convention specific to Buildroot, the ordering of the attributes
is as follows:

1. The type of option: +bool+, +string+... with the prompt
2. If needed, the +default+ value(s)
3. Any dependencies on the target in +depends on+ form
4. Any dependencies on the toolchain in +depends on+ form
5. Any dependencies on other packages in +depends on+ form
6. Any dependency of the +select+ form
7. The help keyword and help text.

You can add other sub-options into a +if BR2_PACKAGE_LIBFOO...endif+
statement to configure particular things in your software. You can look at
examples in other packages. The syntax of the +Config.in+ file is the same
as the one for the kernel Kconfig file. The documentation for this syntax is
available at http://kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt[]

Finally you have to add your new +libfoo/Config.in+ to
+package/Config.in+ (or in a category subdirectory if you decided to
put your package in one of the existing categories). The files
included there are 'sorted alphabetically' per category and are 'NOT'
supposed to contain anything but the 'bare' name of the package.

--------------------------
source "package/libfoo/Config.in"
--------------------------


==== +Config.in.host+ file

Some packages also need to be built for the host system. There are two
options here:

* The host package is only required to satisfy build-time
  dependencies of one or more target packages. In this case, add
  +host-foo+ to the target package's +BAR_DEPENDENCIES+ variable. No
  +Config.in.host+ file should be created.

* The host package should be explicitly selectable by the user from
  the configuration menu. In this case, create a +Config.in.host+ file
  for that host package:
+
---------------------------
config BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_FOO
	bool "host foo"
	help
	  This is a comment that explains what foo for the host is.

	  http://foosoftware.org/foo/
---------------------------
+
The same coding style and options as for the +Config.in+ file are valid.
+
Finally you have to add your new +libfoo/Config.in.host+ to
+package/Config.in.host+. The files included there are 'sorted alphabetically'
and are 'NOT' supposed to contain anything but the 'bare' name of the package.
+
--------------------------
source "package/foo/Config.in.host"
--------------------------
+
The host package will then be available from the +Host utilities+ menu.

[[depends-on-vs-select]]
==== Choosing +depends on+ or +select+

The +Config.in+ file of your package must also ensure that
dependencies are enabled. Typically, Buildroot uses the following
rules:

* Use a +select+ type of dependency for dependencies on
  libraries. These dependencies are generally not obvious and it
  therefore make sense to have the kconfig system ensure that the
  dependencies are selected. For example, the _libgtk2_ package uses
  +select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBGLIB2+ to make sure this library is also
  enabled.
  The +select+ keyword expresses the dependency with a backward
  semantic.

* Use a +depends on+ type of dependency when the user really needs to
  be aware of the dependency. Typically, Buildroot uses this type of
  dependency for dependencies on target architecture, MMU support and
  toolchain options (see xref:dependencies-target-toolchain-options[]),
  or for dependencies on "big" things, such as the X.org system.
  The +depends on+ keyword expresses the dependency with a forward
  semantic.

.Note
The current problem with the _kconfig_ language is that these two
dependency semantics are not internally linked. Therefore, it may be
possible to select a package, whom one of its dependencies/requirement
is not met.

An example illustrates both the usage of +select+ and +depends on+.

--------------------------
config BR2_PACKAGE_RRDTOOL
	bool "rrdtool"
	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
	select BR2_PACKAGE_FREETYPE
	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBART
	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBPNG
	select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
        help
	  RRDtool is the OpenSource industry standard, high performance
	  data logging and graphing system for time series data.

	  http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/

comment "rrdtool needs a toolchain w/ wchar"
	depends on !BR2_USE_WCHAR
--------------------------


Note that these two dependency types are only transitive with the
dependencies of the same kind.

This means, in the following example:

--------------------------
config BR2_PACKAGE_A
        bool "Package A"

config BR2_PACKAGE_B
        bool "Package B"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A

config BR2_PACKAGE_C
        bool "Package C"
        depends on BR2_PACKAGE_B

config BR2_PACKAGE_D
        bool "Package D"
        select BR2_PACKAGE_B

config BR2_PACKAGE_E
        bool "Package E"
        select BR2_PACKAGE_D
--------------------------

* Selecting +Package C+ will be visible if +Package B+ has been
  selected, which in turn is only visible if +Package A+ has been
  selected.

* Selecting +Package E+ will select +Package D+, which will select
  +Package B+, it will not check for the dependencies of +Package B+,
  so it will not select +Package A+.

* Since +Package B+ is selected but +Package A+ is not, this violates
  the dependency of +Package B+ on +Package A+. Therefore, in such a
  situation, the transitive dependency has to be added explicitly:

--------------------------
config BR2_PACKAGE_D
	bool "Package D"
	select BR2_PACKAGE_B
	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A

config BR2_PACKAGE_E
	bool "Package E"
	select BR2_PACKAGE_D
	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_A
--------------------------

Overall, for package library dependencies, +select+ should be
preferred.

Note that such dependencies will ensure that the dependency option
is also enabled, but not necessarily built before your package. To do
so, the dependency also needs to be expressed in the +.mk+ file of the
package.

Further formatting details: see xref:writing-rules-config-in[the
coding style].

[[dependencies-target-toolchain-options]]
==== Dependencies on target and toolchain options

Many packages depend on certain options of the toolchain: the choice of
C library, C++ support, thread support, RPC support, wchar support,
or dynamic library support. Some packages can only be built on certain
target architectures, or if an MMU is available in the processor.

These dependencies have to be expressed with the appropriate 'depends
on' statements in the Config.in file. Additionally, for dependencies on
toolchain options, a +comment+ should be displayed when the option is
not enabled, so that the user knows why the package is not available.
Dependencies on target architecture or MMU support should not be
made visible in a comment: since it is unlikely that the user can
freely choose another target, it makes little sense to show these
dependencies explicitly.

The +comment+ should only be visible if the +config+ option itself would
be visible when the toolchain option dependencies are met. This means
that all other dependencies of the package (including dependencies on
target architecture and MMU support) have to be repeated on the
+comment+ definition. To keep it clear, the +depends on+ statement for
these non-toolchain option should be kept separate from the +depends on+
statement for the toolchain options.
If there is a dependency on a config option in that same file (typically
the main package) it is preferable to have a global +if ... endif+
construct rather than repeating the +depends on+ statement on the
comment and other config options.

The general format of a dependency +comment+ for package foo is:

--------------------------
foo needs a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC
--------------------------

for example:

--------------------------
mpd needs a toolchain w/ C++, threads, wchar
--------------------------

or

--------------------------
crda needs a toolchain w/ threads
--------------------------

Note that this text is kept brief on purpose, so that it will fit on a
80-character terminal.

The rest of this section enumerates the different target and toolchain
options, the corresponding config symbols to depend on, and the text to
use in the comment.

* Target architecture
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_powerpc+, +BR2_mips+, ... (see +arch/Config.in+)
** Comment string: no comment to be added

* MMU support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_USE_MMU+
** Comment string: no comment to be added

* Gcc +__sync_*+ built-ins used for atomic operations. They are
  available in variants operating on 1 byte, 2 bytes, 4 bytes and 8
  bytes. Since different architectures support atomic operations on
  different sizes, one dependency symbol is available for each size:
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_1+ for 1 byte,
   +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_2+ for 2 bytes,
   +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_4+ for 4 bytes, +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SYNC_8+
   for 8 bytes.
** Comment string: no comment to be added

* Gcc +__atomic_*+ built-ins used for atomic operations.
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ATOMIC+.
** Comment string: no comment to be added

* Kernel headers
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_X_Y+, (replace
   +X_Y+ with the proper version, see +toolchain/Config.in+)
** Comment string: +headers >= X.Y+ and/or `headers <= X.Y` (replace
   +X.Y+ with the proper version)

* GCC version
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_X_Y+, (replace
   +X_Y+ with the proper version, see +toolchain/Config.in+)
** Comment string: +gcc >= X.Y+ and/or `gcc <= X.Y` (replace
   +X.Y+ with the proper version)

* Host GCC version
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_X_Y+, (replace
   +X_Y+ with the proper version, see +Config.in+)
** Comment string: no comment to be added
** Note that it is usually not the package itself that has a minimum
   host GCC version, but rather a host-package on which it depends.

* C library
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_GLIBC+,
   +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_MUSL+, +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC+
** Comment string: for the C library, a slightly different comment text
   is used: +foo needs a glibc toolchain+, or `foo needs a glibc
   toolchain w/ C++`

* C++ support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP+
** Comment string: `C++`

* Fortran support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_FORTRAN+
** Comment string: `fortran`

* thread support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS+
** Comment string: +threads+ (unless +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL+
   is also needed, in which case, specifying only +NPTL+ is sufficient)

* NPTL thread support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL+
** Comment string: +NPTL+

* RPC support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_NATIVE_RPC+
** Comment string: +RPC+

* wchar support
** Dependency symbol: +BR2_USE_WCHAR+
** Comment string: +wchar+

* dynamic library
** Dependency symbol: +!BR2_STATIC_LIBS+
** Comment string: +dynamic library+

==== Dependencies on a Linux kernel built by buildroot

Some packages need a Linux kernel to be built by buildroot. These are
typically kernel modules or firmware. A comment should be added in the
Config.in file to express this dependency, similar to dependencies on
toolchain options. The general format is:

--------------------------
foo needs a Linux kernel to be built
--------------------------

If there is a dependency on both toolchain options and the Linux
kernel, use this format:

--------------------------
foo needs a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC and a Linux kernel to be built
--------------------------

==== Dependencies on udev /dev management

If a package needs udev /dev management, it should depend on symbol
+BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_UDEV+, and the following comment should be added:

--------------------------
foo needs udev /dev management
--------------------------

If there is a dependency on both toolchain options and udev /dev
management, use this format:

--------------------------
foo needs udev /dev management and a toolchain w/ featA, featB, featC
--------------------------

==== Dependencies on features provided by virtual packages

Some features can be provided by more than one package, such as the
openGL libraries.

See xref:virtual-package-tutorial[] for more on the virtual packages.

=== The +.mk+ file

[[adding-packages-mk]]

Finally, here's the hardest part. Create a file named +libfoo.mk+. It
describes how the package should be downloaded, configured, built,
installed, etc.

Depending on the package type, the +.mk+ file must be written in a
different way, using different infrastructures:

* *Makefiles for generic packages* (not using autotools or CMake):
  These are based on an infrastructure similar to the one used for
  autotools-based packages, but require a little more work from the
  developer. They specify what should be done for the configuration,
  compilation and installation of the package. This
  infrastructure must be used for all packages that do not use the
  autotools as their build system. In the future, other specialized
  infrastructures might be written for other build systems. We cover
  them through in a xref:generic-package-tutorial[tutorial] and a
  xref:generic-package-reference[reference].

* *Makefiles for autotools-based software* (autoconf, automake, etc.):
  We provide a dedicated infrastructure for such packages, since
  autotools is a very common build system. This infrastructure 'must'
  be used for new packages that rely on the autotools as their build
  system. We cover them through a xref:autotools-package-tutorial[tutorial]
  and xref:autotools-package-reference[reference].

* *Makefiles for cmake-based software*: We provide a dedicated
   infrastructure for such packages, as CMake is a more and more
   commonly used build system and has a standardized behaviour. This
   infrastructure 'must' be used for new packages that rely on
   CMake. We cover them through a xref:cmake-package-tutorial[tutorial]
   and xref:cmake-package-reference[reference].

* *Makefiles for Python modules*: We have a dedicated infrastructure
   for Python modules that use either the +distutils+ or the
   +setuptools+ mechanism. We cover them through a
   xref:python-package-tutorial[tutorial] and a
   xref:python-package-reference[reference].

* *Makefiles for Lua modules*: We have a dedicated infrastructure for
   Lua modules available through the LuaRocks web site. We cover them
   through a xref:luarocks-package-tutorial[tutorial] and a
   xref:luarocks-package-reference[reference].

Further formatting details: see xref:writing-rules-mk[the writing
rules].

[[adding-packages-hash]]
=== The +.hash+ file

When possible, you must add a third file, named +libfoo.hash+, that
contains the hashes of the downloaded files for the +libfoo+
package. The only reason for not adding a +.hash+ file is when hash
checking is not possible due to how the package is downloaded.

When a package has a version selection choice, then the hash file may be
stored in a subdirectory named after the version, e.g.
+package/libfoo/1.2.3/libfoo.hash+. This is especially important if the
different versions have different licensing terms, but they are stored
in the same file. Otherwise, the hash file should stay in the package's
directory.

The hashes stored in that file are used to validate the integrity of the
downloaded files and of the license files.

The format of this file is one line for each file for which to check the
hash, each line being space-separated, with these three fields:

* the type of hash, one of:
** +md5+, +sha1+, +sha224+, +sha256+, +sha384+, +sha512+, +none+
* the hash of the file:
** for +none+, one or more non-space chars, usually just the string +xxx+
** for +md5+, 32 hexadecimal characters
** for +sha1+, 40 hexadecimal characters
** for +sha224+, 56 hexadecimal characters
** for +sha256+, 64 hexadecimal characters
** for +sha384+, 96 hexadecimal characters
** for +sha512+, 128 hexadecimal characters
* the name of the file:
** for a source archive: the basename of the file, without any directory
   component,
** for a license file: the path as it appears in +FOO_LICENSE_FILES+.

Lines starting with a +#+ sign are considered comments, and ignored. Empty
lines are ignored.

There can be more than one hash for a single file, each on its own line. In
this case, all hashes must match.

.Note
Ideally, the hashes stored in this file should match the hashes published by
upstream, e.g. on their website, in the e-mail announcement... If upstream
provides more than one type of hash (e.g. +sha1+ and +sha512+), then it is
best to add all those hashes in the +.hash+ file. If upstream does not
provide any hash, or only provides an +md5+ hash, then compute at least one
strong hash yourself (preferably +sha256+, but not +md5+), and mention
this in a comment line above the hashes.

.Note
The hashes for license files are used to detect a license change when a
package version is bumped. The hashes are checked during the make legal-info
target run. For a package with multiple versions (like Qt5),
create the hash file in a subdirectory +<packageversion>+ of that package
(see also xref:patch-apply-order[]).

.Note
The number of spaces does not matter, so one can use spaces (or tabs) to
properly align the different fields.

The +none+ hash type is reserved to those archives downloaded from a
repository, like a 'git clone', a 'subversion checkout'...

The example below defines a +sha1+ and a +sha256+ published by upstream for
the main +libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2+ tarball, an +md5+ from upstream and a
locally-computed +sha256+ hashes for a binary blob, a +sha256+ for a
downloaded patch, and an archive with no hash:

----
# Hashes from: http://www.foosoftware.org/download/libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2.{sha1,sha256}:
sha1   486fb55c3efa71148fe07895fd713ea3a5ae343a                         libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2
sha256 efc8103cc3bcb06bda6a781532d12701eb081ad83e8f90004b39ab81b65d4369 libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2

# md5 from: http://www.foosoftware.org/download/libfoo-1.2.3.tar.bz2.md5, sha256 locally computed:
md5    2d608f3c318c6b7557d551a5a09314f03452f1a1                         libfoo-data.bin
sha256 01ba4719c80b6fe911b091a7c05124b64eeece964e09c058ef8f9805daca546b libfoo-data.bin

# Locally computed:
sha256 ff52101fb90bbfc3fe9475e425688c660f46216d7e751c4bbdb1dc85cdccacb9 libfoo-fix-blabla.patch

# No hash for 1234:
none   xxx                                                              libfoo-1234.tar.gz

# Hash for license files:
sha256 a45a845012742796534f7e91fe623262ccfb99460a2bd04015bd28d66fba95b8  COPYING
sha256 01b1f9f2c8ee648a7a596a1abe8aa4ed7899b1c9e5551bda06da6e422b04aa55  doc/COPYING.LGPL
----

If the +.hash+ file is present, and it contains one or more hashes for a
downloaded file, the hash(es) computed by Buildroot (after download) must
match the hash(es) stored in the +.hash+ file. If one or more hashes do
not match, Buildroot considers this an error, deletes the downloaded file,
and aborts.

If the +.hash+ file is present, but it does not contain a hash for a
downloaded file, Buildroot considers this an error and aborts. However,
the downloaded file is left in the download directory since this
typically indicates that the +.hash+ file is wrong but the downloaded
file is probably OK.

Hashes are currently checked for files fetched from http/ftp servers,
Git repositories, files copied using scp and local files. Hashes are
not checked for other version control systems (such as Subversion,
CVS, etc.) because Buildroot currently does not generate reproducible
tarballs when source code is fetched from such version control
systems.

Hashes should only be added in +.hash+ files for files that are
guaranteed to be stable. For example, patches auto-generated by Github
are not guaranteed to be stable, and therefore their hashes can change
over time. Such patches should not be downloaded, and instead be added
locally to the package folder.

If the +.hash+ file is missing, then no check is done at all.