path: root/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-hello.xml

<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">

<appendix id='hello-world-example'>
    <title>Hello World Example</title>

    <section id='bitbake-hello-world'>
        <title>BitBake Hello World</title>

        <para>
            The simplest example commonly used to demonstrate any new
            programming language or tool is the
            <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_world_program">Hello World</ulink>
            example.
            This appendix demonstrates, in tutorial form, Hello
            World within the context of BitBake.
            The tutorial describes how to create a new Project
            and the applicable metadata files necessary to allow
            BitBake to build it.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='example-obtaining-bitbake'>
        <title>Obtaining BitBake</title>

        <para>
            See the
            "<link linkend='obtaining-bitbake'>Obtaining BitBake</link>"
            section for information on how to obtain BitBake.
            Once you have the source code on your machine, the BitBake directory
            appears as follows:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ ls -al
     total 100
     drwxrwxr-x. 9 wmat wmat  4096 Jan 31 13:44 .
     drwxrwxr-x. 3 wmat wmat  4096 Feb  4 10:45 ..
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat   365 Nov 26 04:55 AUTHORS
     drwxrwxr-x. 2 wmat wmat  4096 Nov 26 04:55 bin
     drwxrwxr-x. 4 wmat wmat  4096 Jan 31 13:44 build
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat 16501 Nov 26 04:55 ChangeLog
     drwxrwxr-x. 2 wmat wmat  4096 Nov 26 04:55 classes
     drwxrwxr-x. 2 wmat wmat  4096 Nov 26 04:55 conf
     drwxrwxr-x. 3 wmat wmat  4096 Nov 26 04:55 contrib
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat 17987 Nov 26 04:55 COPYING
     drwxrwxr-x. 3 wmat wmat  4096 Nov 26 04:55 doc
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat    69 Nov 26 04:55 .gitignore
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat   849 Nov 26 04:55 HEADER
     drwxrwxr-x. 5 wmat wmat  4096 Jan 31 13:44 lib
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat   195 Nov 26 04:55 MANIFEST.in
     -rwxrwxr-x. 1 wmat wmat  3195 Jan 31 11:57 setup.py
     -rw-rw-r--. 1 wmat wmat  2887 Nov 26 04:55 TODO
            </literallayout>
        </para>

        <para>
            At this point, you should have BitBake cloned to
            a directory that matches the previous listing except for
            dates and user names.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='setting-up-the-bitbake-environment'>
        <title>Setting Up the BitBake Environment</title>

        <para>
            The recommended method to run BitBake is from a directory of your
            choice.
            The directory can be within your home directory or in
            <filename>/usr/local</filename>,
            depending on your preference.
        </para>

        <para>
            First, run BitBake to make sure it's working.
            From the BitBake source code directory, issue the following command:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ ./bin/bitbake --version
     BitBake Build Tool Core version 1.19.0, bitbake version
     1.19.0
            </literallayout>
            You are now ready to use BitBake.
        </para>

        <para>
            A final step to make development easier is to add the executable
            binary to your environment <filename>PATH</filename>.
            First, look at your current <filename>PATH</filename> variable
            by entering the following:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ echo $PATH
            </literallayout>
            Next, add the directory location for the BitBake binary to the
            <filename>PATH</filename> using this form:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ export PATH=&lt;path-to-bitbake-executable&gt;:$PATH
            </literallayout>
            This will add the directory to the beginning of your
            <filename>PATH</filename> environment variable.
            You should now be able to enter the <filename>bitbake</filename>
            command at the command line to run BitBake.
        </para>

        <para>
            For a more permanent solution assuming you are running the BASH
            shell, edit <filename>~/.bashrc</filename> and add the following to the end
            of that file:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     PATH=&lt;path-to-bitbake-executable&gt;:$PATH
            </literallayout>
        </para>

        <para>
            If you're a Vim user, you will find useful
            Vim configuration contributions in the
            <filename>contrib/vim</filename> directory.
            Copy the files from that directory to your
            <filename>/home/yourusername/.vim</filename>
            directory.
            If that directory does not exist, create it, and then
            restart Vim.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='the-hello-world-example'>
        <title>The Hello World Example</title>

        <para>
            The following example leaps directly into how BitBake
            works.
            While every attempt is made to explain what is happening,
            not everything can be covered.
            You can find further information in the
            "<link linkend='bitbake-user-manual-metadata'>Syntax and Operators</link>"
            chapter.
        </para>

        <para>
            The overall goal of this exercise is to build a
            complete "Hello World" example utilizing task and layer
            concepts.
            This is how modern projects such as OpenEmbedded and
            the Yocto Project utilize BitBake, therefore it
            provides an excellent starting point for understanding
            BitBake.
        </para>

        <para>
            It should be noted that this chapter was inspired by
            and draws heavily from several sources:
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para>
                    <ulink href="http://www.mail-archive.com/yocto@yoctoproject.org/msg09379.html">Mailing List post - The BitBake equivalent of "Hello, World!"</ulink>
                    </para></listitem>
                <listitem><para>
                    <ulink href="http://hambedded.org/blog/2012/11/24/from-bitbake-hello-world-to-an-image/">Hambedded Linux blog post - From Bitbake Hello World to an Image</ulink>
                    </para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
        </para>

        <section id='a-reverse-walk-through'>
            <title>A Reverse Walk-Through</title>

            <para>
                A good way to understand anything is to walk through the steps
                that take you to where you want to be and observe first
                principles.
                BitBake allows us to do this through the
                <filename>-D</filename> or <filename>Debug</filename>
                command-line parameter.
            </para>

            <para>
                The goal is to eventually compile a "Hello World" example.
                However, it is unknown what is needed to achieve that goal.
                Recall that BitBake utilizes three types of metadata files:
                <link linkend='configuration-files'>Configuration Files</link>,
                <link linkend='classes'>Classes</link>, and
                <link linkend='recipes'>Recipes</link>.
                But where do they go?
                How does BitBake find them?
                BitBake's error messaging helps you answer these types of questions
                and helps you better understand exactly what is going on.
            </para>

            <para>
                First, set up a directory for the "Hello World" project.
                Here is how you can do so in your home directory:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ mkdir ~/dev/hello &amp;&amp; cd ~/dev/hello
                </literallayout>
                Within this new, empty directory, run BitBake with
                debugging output and see what happens:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -DDD
     The BBPATH variable is not set
     DEBUG: Removed the following variables from the environment:
     GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID, LESSOPEN, WINDOWID,
     GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL, DISPLAY, SSH_AGENT_PID, LANG,
     XDG_SESSION_PATH, XAUTHORITY, LANGUAGE, SESSION_MANAGER,
     SHLVL, MANDATORY_PATH, COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE, TEXTDOMAIN,
     GPG_AGENT_INFO, SSH_AUTH_SOCK, XDG_RUNTIME_DIR,
     COMPIZ_BIN_PATH, GDMSESSION, DEFAULTS_PATH, TEXTDOMAINDIR,
     XDG_SEAT_PATH, XDG_CONFIG_DIRS, XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP,
     DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS, _, XDG_SESSION_COOKIE,
     DESKTOP_SESSION, LESSCLOSE, GNOME_KEYRING_PID,
     UBUNTU_MENUPROXY, OLDPWD, GTK_MODULES, XDG_DATA_DIRS,
     COLORTERM, LS_COLORS
                </literallayout>
                The majority of this output is specific to environment variables
                that are not directly relevant to BitBake.
                However, the very first message
                "<filename>The BBPATH variable is not set</filename>"
                is relevant and you need to rectify it by setting
                <link linkend='var-BBPATH'><filename>BBPATH</filename></link>.
            </para>

            <para>
                When you run BitBake, it begins looking for metadata files.
                The <filename>BBPATH</filename> variable is what tells
                BitBake where to look.
                You could set <filename>BBPATH</filename> in the same manner
                that you set <filename>PATH</filename> as shown earlier.
                However, it is much more flexible to set the
                <link linkend='var-BBPATH'><filename>BBPATH</filename></link>
                variable for each project.
            </para>

            <para>
                Without <filename>BBPATH</filename>, Bitbake cannot
                find any configuration files (<filename>.conf</filename>)
                or recipe files (<filename>.bb</filename>) at all.
                BitBake also cannot find the <filename>bitbake.conf</filename>
                file.
            </para>

            <para>
                It is standard practice to organize the project's directory tree
                to include both a <filename>conf/</filename> and
                <filename>classes/</filename> directory.
                You need to add those directories to your project:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ mkdir conf classes
                </literallayout>
                Once those directories are in place, you can copy the
                sample configuration files provided in the
                BitBake source tree to their appropriate directories.
                First, change to the BitBake source tree directory and
                then copy the directories:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     cp conf/bitbake.conf ~/dev/hello/conf/
     cp classes/base.bbclass ~/dev/hello/classes/
                </literallayout>
                At this point your project directory structure should look like
                the following:
               <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     ~/dev/hello$ tree
     .
     |-- classes
     |   +-- base.bbclass
     +-- conf
     +-- bitbake.conf
                </literallayout>
            </para>

            <para>
                Once you have copied these files into your project, you
                can now get back to resolving the <filename>BBPATH</filename>
                issue.
            </para>

            <para>
                The first configuration file that BitBake looks for is always
                <filename>bblayers.conf</filename>.
                With this knowledge, you know that to resolve your
                <filename>BBPATH</filename> error you can add a
                <filename>conf/bblayers.conf</filename> file to the
                project source tree and populate it with the
                <filename>BBPATH</filename> variable declaration.
            </para>

            <para>
                From your project source tree:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ vim conf/bblayers.conf
                </literallayout>
                Now add the following to the empty
                <filename>bblayers.conf</filename> file:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBPATH := "${TOPDIR}"
                </literallayout>
            </para>

            <para>
                Now, from the root of your project directory, run BitBake
                again and see what happens:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     $ bitbake -DDD
     Nothing to do.  Use 'bitbake world' to build everything, or run
     'bitbake --help' for usage information.
     DEBUG: Removed the following variables from the environment:
     GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID, LESSOPEN, WINDOWID,
     GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL, DISPLAY, SSH_AGENT_PID, LANG,
     XDG_SESSION_PATH, XAUTHORITY, LANGUAGE, SESSION_MANAGER,
     SHLVL, MANDATORY_PATH, COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE, TEXTDOMAIN,
     GPG_AGENT_INFO, SSH_AUTH_SOCK, XDG_RUNTIME_DIR,
     COMPIZ_BIN_PATH, GDMSESSION, DEFAULTS_PATH, TEXTDOMAINDIR,
     XDG_SEAT_PATH, XDG_CONFIG_DIRS, XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP,
     DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS, _, XDG_SESSION_COOKIE,
     DESKTOP_SESSION, LESSCLOSE, GNOME_KEYRING_PID, UBUNTU_MENUPROXY,
     OLDPWD, GTK_MODULES, XDG_DATA_DIRS, COLORTERM, LS_COLORS
     DEBUG: Found bblayers.conf (/home/wmat/dev/hello/conf/
     bblayers.conf)
     DEBUG: LOAD /home/wmat/dev/hello/conf/bblayers.conf
     DEBUG: LOAD /home/wmat/dev/hello/conf/bitbake.conf
     DEBUG: BB configuration INHERITs:0: inheriting /home/wmat/dev/
     hello/classes/base.bbclass
     DEBUG: BB /home/wmat/dev/hello/classes/base.bbclass: handle
     (data, include)
     DEBUG: LOAD /home/wmat/dev/hello/classes/base.bbclass
     DEBUG: Clearing SRCREV cache due to cache policy of: clear
     DEBUG: Using cache in '/home/wmat/dev/hello/tmp/cache/
     local_file_checksum_cache.dat'
     DEBUG: Using cache in '/home/wmat/dev/hello/tmp/cache/
     bb_codeparser.dat'
                </literallayout>
                <note>
                    From this point forward in the example, the environment
                    variable removal messages are ignored and omitted.
                    Examine the relevant DEBUG messages:
                </note>
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>
</appendix>