path: root/doc/user-manual/user-manual-metadata.xml

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

<chapter id="user-manual-metadata">
    <title>Metadata</title>

    <section>
        <title>Overview</title>

        <para>
            The BitBake task executor together with various types of configuration files form the OpenEmbedded
            Core.
            This section provides an overview of the BitBake task executor and the configuration files by
            describing what they are used for and how they interact.
        </para>

        <para>
            BitBake handles the parsing and execution of the data files. The data itself is of various types:
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>Recipes:</emphasis>
                    Provides details about particular pieces of software.</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>Class Data:</emphasis>
                    An abstraction of common build information (e.g. how to build a Linux kernel).</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>Configuration Data:</emphasis>
                    Defines machine-specific settings, policy decisions, etc. Configuration data acts
                    as the glue to bind everything together.</para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            What follows are a large number of examples of BitBake metadata. Any syntax which isn't supported
            in any of the aforementioned areas will be documented as such.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='basic-syntax'>
        <title>Basic Syntax</title>

        <section id='basic-variable-setting'>
            <title>Basic Variable Setting</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     VARIABLE = "value"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>VARIABLE</filename> is <filename>value</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='variable-expansion'>
            <title>Variable Expansion</title>

            <para>
                BitBake supports variables referencing one another's
                contents using a syntax which is similar to shell
                scripting
            </para>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     A = "aval"
     B = "pre${A}post"
                </literallayout>
                This results in <filename>A</filename> containing
                <filename>aval</filename> and <filename>B</filename> containing
                <filename>preavalpost</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='setting-a-default-value'>
            <title>Setting a default value (?=)</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     A ?= "aval"
                </literallayout>
                If <filename>A</filename> is set before the above is called,
                it will retain its previous value.
                If <filename>A</filename> is unset prior to the above call,
                <filename>A</filename> will be set to <filename>aval</filename>.
                <note>
                    This assignment is immediate, so if there are multiple "?=" assignments
                    to a single variable, the first of those will be used.
                </note>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='setting-a-weak-default-value'>
            <title>Setting a weak default value (??=)</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     A ??= "somevalue"
     A ??= "someothervalue"
                </literallayout>
                If <filename>A</filename> is set before the above,
                it will retain that value.
                If <filename>A</filename> is unset prior to the above,
                <filename>A</filename> will be set to <filename>someothervalue</filename>.
                This is a lazy or weak assignment in that the assignment does not occur until the end
                of the parsing process, so that the last, rather than the first,
                "??=" assignment to a given variable will be used.
                Any other setting of <filename>A</filename> using "=" or "?="
                will, however, override the value set with "??=".
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='immediate-variable-expansion'>
            <title>Immediate variable expansion (:=)</title>

            <para>
                The ":=" operator results in a variable's contents being expanded immediately,
                rather than when the variable is actually used:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     T = "123"
     A := "${B} ${A} test ${T}"
     T = "456"
     B = "${T} bval"
     C = "cval"
     C := "${C}append"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>A</filename> would contain
                <filename>test 123</filename>, <filename>B</filename> would contain
                <filename>456 bval</filename>, and <filename>C</filename>
                would be <filename>cvalappend</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='appending-and-prepending'>
            <title>Appending (+=) and prepending (=+)</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     B = "bval"
     B += "additionaldata"
     C = "cval"
     C =+ "test"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>B</filename> is now
                <filename>bval additionaldata</filename> and <filename>C</filename>
                is <filename>test cval</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='appending-and-prepending-without-spaces'>
            <title>Appending (.=) and Prepending (=.) Without Spaces</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     B = "bval"
     B .= "additionaldata"
     C = "cval"
     C =. "test"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>B</filename> is now
                <filename>bvaladditionaldata</filename> and
                <filename>C</filename> is <filename>testcval</filename>.
                In contrast to the above appending and prepending operators,
                no additional space will be introduced.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='appending-and-prepending-override-style-syntax'>
            <title>Appending and Prepending (Override Style Syntax)</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     B = "bval"
     B_append = " additional data"
     C = "cval"
     C_prepend = "additional data "
                </literallayout>
                This example results in <filename>B</filename>
                becoming <filename>bval additional data</filename> and
                <filename>C</filename> becoming
                <filename>additional data cval</filename>.
                <note>
                    The spaces in <filename>_append</filename>.
                    Unlike the "+=" operator, additional space is not automatically added.
                    You must take steps to add space yourself.
                </note>
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='removing-override-style-syntax'>
            <title>Removing (Override Style Syntax)</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     FOO = "123 456 789 123456 123 456 123 456"
     FOO_remove = "123"
     FOO_remove = "456"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>FOO</filename> is now <filename>789 123456</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='variable-flags'>
            <title>Variable Flags</title>

            <para>
                Variables can have associated flags which provide a way of tagging extra information onto a variable.
                Several flags are used internally by BitBake but they can be used externally too if needed.
                The standard operations mentioned above also work on flags.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     VARIABLE[SOMEFLAG] = "value"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>VARIABLE</filename> has a flag,
                <filename>SOMEFLAG</filename> that is set to <filename>value</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='inline-python-variable-expansion'>
            <title>Inline Python Variable Expansion</title>

            <para>
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     DATE = "${@time.strftime('%Y%m%d',time.gmtime())}"
                </literallayout>
                This would result in the <filename>DATE</filename>
                variable containing today's date.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='conditional-syntax-overrides'>
        <title>Conditional Syntax (Overrides)</title>

        <section id='conditional-metadata'>
            <title>Conditional Metadata</title>

            <para>
                <filename>OVERRIDES</filename> is a “:” separated variable containing
                each item for which you want to satisfy conditions.
                So, if you have a variable that is conditional on “arm”, and “arm”
                is in <filename>OVERRIDES</filename>, then the “arm” specific
                version of the variable is used rather than the non-conditional
                version.
                Here is an example:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     OVERRIDES = "architecture:os:machine"
     TEST = "defaultvalue"
     TEST_os = "osspecificvalue"
     TEST_condnotinoverrides = "othercondvalue"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>TEST</filename> would be
                <filename>osspecificvalue</filename>, due to the condition
                “os” being in <filename>OVERRIDES</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='conditional-appending'>
            <title>Conditional Appending</title>

            <para>
                BitBake also supports appending and prepending to variables based
                on whether something is in <filename>OVERRIDES</filename>.
                Here is an example:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     DEPENDS = "glibc ncurses"
     OVERRIDES = "machine:local"
     DEPENDS_append_machine = "libmad"
                </literallayout>
                In this example, <filename>DEPENDS</filename> is set to
                "glibc ncurses libmad".
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='variable-interaction-worked-examples'>
            <title>Variable Interaction: Worked Examples</title>

            <para>
                Despite the documentation of the different forms of
                variable definition above, it can be hard to work
                out what happens when variable operators are combined.
            </para>

            <para>
                Following are some common scenarios where variables interact
                that can confuse users.
            </para>

            <para>
                There is often confusion about which order overrides and the
                various "append" operators take effect:
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     OVERRIDES = "foo"
     A_foo_append = "X"
                </literallayout>
                In this case, <filename>X</filename> is unconditionally appended
                to the variable <filename>A_foo</filename>.
                Since foo is an override, <filename>A_foo</filename> would then replace
                <filename>A</filename>.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     OVERRIDES = "foo"
     A = "X"
     A_append_foo = "Y"
                </literallayout>
                In this case, only when <filename>foo</filename> is in
                <filename>OVERRIDES</filename>, <filename>Y</filename>
                is appended to the variable <filename>A</filename>
                so the value of <filename>A</filename> would
                become <filename>XY</filename> (NB: no spaces are appended).
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     OVERRIDES = "foo"
     A_foo_append = "X"
     A_foo_append += "Y"
                </literallayout>
                This behaves as per the first case above, but the value of
                <filename>A</filename> would be "X Y" instead of just "X".
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     A = "1"
     A_append = "2"
     A_append = "3"
     A += "4"
     A .= "5"
                </literallayout>
                Would ultimately result in <filename>A</filename> taking the value
                "1 4523" since the "_append" operator executes at the
                same time as the expansion of other overrides.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='key-expansion'>
            <title>Key Expansion</title>

            <para>
                Key expansion happens at the data store finalization
                time just before overrides are expanded.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     A${B} = "X"
     B = "2"
     A2 = "Y"
                </literallayout>
                So in this case <filename>A2</filename> would take the value of "X".
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='inheritance'>
        <title>Inheritance</title>

        <section id='inheritance-directive'>
            <title>Inheritance Directive</title>

            <note>
                This is only supported in <filename>.bb</filename> and
                <filename>.bbclass</filename> files.
            </note>

            <para>
                The inherit directive is a means of specifying what classes
                of functionality your <filename>.bb</filename> requires.
                It is a rudimentary form of inheritance.
                For example, you can easily abstract out the tasks involved in
                building a package that uses autoconf and automake, and put
                that into a bbclass for your packages to make use of.
                A given bbclass is located by searching for classes/filename.bbclass
                in <filename>BBPATH</filename>, where filename is what you inherited.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='inclusion-directive'>
            <title>Inclusion Directive</title>

            <para>
                This directive causes BitBake to parse whatever file you specify,
                and insert it at that location, which is not unlike Make.
                However, if the path specified on the include line is a
                relative path, BitBake will locate the first one it can find
                within <filename>BBPATH</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='requiring-inclusion'>
            <title>Requiring Inclusion</title>

            <para>
                In contrast to the include directive, require will raise a
                ParseError if the file to be included cannot
                be found.
                Otherwise it will behave just like the include directive.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='inherit-configuration-directive'>
            <title><filename>INHERIT</filename> Configuration Directive</title>

            <para>
                This configuration directive causes the named class to be inherited
                at this point during parsing.
                This variable is only valid in configuration files.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='defining-python-functions-into-the-global-python-namespace'>
        <title>Defining Python Functions into the Global Python Namespace</title>

        <note>
            <para>
                This is only supported in <filename>.bb</filename>
                and <filename>.bbclass</filename> files.
            </para>

            <para>
                Python functions are in the global namespace so should use
                unique names.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     def get_depends(d):
         if d.getVar('SOMECONDITION', True):
             return "dependencywithcond"
         else:
             return "dependency"
     SOMECONDITION = "1"
     DEPENDS = "${@get_depends(d)}"
                </literallayout>
                This would result in <filename>DEPENDS</filename>
                containing <filename>dependencywithcond</filename>.
            </para>
        </note>
    </section>

    <section id='functions'>
        <title>Functions</title>

        <note>
            This is only supported in <filename>.bb</filename>
            and <filename>.bbclass</filename> files.
        </note>

        <para>
            As with most languages, functions are the building blocks
            that define operations.
            Bitbake supports shell and Python functions.
            An example shell function definition is:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     some_function () {
     echo "Hello World"
     }
            </literallayout>
            An example Python function definition is:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     python some_python_function () {
     d.setVar("TEXT", "Hello World")
     print d.getVar("TEXT", True)
     }
            </literallayout>
            In python functions, the "bb" and "os" modules are already
            imported, there is no need to import those modules.
            The datastore, "d" is also a global variable and always
            available to these functions automatically.
        </para>

        <para>
            Bitbake will execute functions of this form using
            the <filename>bb.build.exec_func()</filename>, which can also be
            called from Python functions to execute other functions,
            either shell or Python based.
            Shell functions can only execute other shell functions.
        </para>

        <para>
            There is also a second way to declare python functions with
            parameters which takes the form:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     def some_python_function(arg1, arg2):
     print arg1 + " " + arg2
            </literallayout>
            The difference is that the second form takes parameters,
            the datastore is not available automatically
            and must be passed as a parameter and these functions are
            not called with the <filename>exec_func()</filename> but are
            executed with direct Python function calls.
            The "bb" and "os" modules are still automatically available
            and there is no need to import them.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='tasks'>
        <title>Tasks</title>

        <note>
            This is only supported in <filename>.bb</filename>
            and <filename>.bbclass</filename> files.
        </note>

        <para>
            A shell or Python function executable through the
            <filename>exec_func</filename> can be promoted to become a task.
            Tasks are the execution unit Bitbake uses and each step that
            needs to be run for a given <filename>.bb</filename> is known as
            a task.
            There is an <filename>addtask</filename> command to add new tasks
            and promote functions which by convention must start with “do_”.
            The <filename>addtask</filename> command is also used to describe
            intertask dependencies.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     python do_printdate () {
         import time print
         time.strftime('%Y%m%d', time.gmtime())
     }
     addtask printdate after do_fetch before do_build
            </literallayout>
            The above example defined a Python function, then adds
            it as a task which is now a dependency of
            <filename>do_build</filename>, the default task and states it
            has to happen after <filename>do_fetch</filename>.
            If anyone executes the <filename>do_build</filename>
            task, that will result in <filename>do_printdate</filename>
            being run first.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='running-a-task'>
        <title>Running a Task</title>

        <para>
            Tasks can either be a shell task or a Python task.
            For shell tasks, BitBake writes a shell script to
            <filename>${WORKDIR}/temp/run.do_taskname.pid</filename>
            and then executes the script.
            The generated shell script contains all the exported variables,
            and the shell functions with all variables expanded.
            Output from the shell script goes to the file
            <filename>${WORKDIR}/temp/log.do_taskname.pid</filename>.
            Looking at the expanded shell functions in the run file and
            the output in the log files is a useful debugging technique.
        </para>

        <para>
            For Python tasks, BitBake executes the task internally and logs
            information to the controlling terminal.
            Future versions of BitBake will write the functions to files
            similar to the way shell tasks are handled.
            Logging will be handled in a way similar to shell tasks as well.
        </para>

        <para>
            Once all the tasks have been completed BitBake exits.
        </para>

        <para>
            When running a task, BitBake tightly controls the execution
            environment of the build tasks to make
            sure unwanted contamination from the build machine cannot
            influence the build.
            Consequently, if you do want something to get passed into the
            build task's environment, you must take a few steps:
            <orderedlist>
                <listitem><para>
                    Tell BitBake to load what you want from the environment
                    into the data store.
                    You can do so through the
                    <filename>BB_ENV_EXTRAWHITE</filename> variable.
                    For example, assume you want to prevent the build system from
                    accessing your <filename>$HOME/.ccache</filename>
                    directory.
                    The following command tells BitBake to load
                    <filename>CCACHE_DIR</filename> from the environment into
                    the data store:
                    <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     export BB_ENV_EXTRAWHITE="$BB_ENV_EXTRAWHITE CCACHE_DIR"
                    </literallayout></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para>
                    Tell BitBake to export what you have loaded into the
                    environment store to the task environment of
                    every running task.
                    Loading something from the environment into the data
                    store (previous step) only makes it available in the datastore.
                    To export it to the task environment of every running task,
                    use a command similar to the following in your
                    <filename>local.conf</filename> or distribution configuration file:
                    <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     export CCACHE_DIR
                    </literallayout>
                    <note>
                        A side effect of the previous steps is that BitBake
                        records the variable as a dependency of the build process
                        in things like the shared state checksums.
                        If doing so results in unnecessary rebuilds of tasks, you can
                        whitelist the variable so that the shared state code
                        ignores the dependency when it creates checksums.
                    </note></para></listitem>
            </orderedlist>
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='task-flags'>
        <title>Task Flags</title>

        <para>
            Tasks support a number of flags which control various
            functionality of the task.
            These are as follows:
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>dirs:</emphasis>
                    Directories which should be created before the task runs.
                    </para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>cleandirs:</emphasis>
                    Directories which should created before the task runs
                    but should be empty.</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>noexec:</emphasis>
                    Marks the tasks as being empty and no execution required.
                    These are used as dependency placeholders or used when added tasks
                    need to be subsequently disabled.</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>nostamp:</emphasis>
                    Do not generate a stamp file for a task.
                    This means the task is always executed.</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>fakeroot:</emphasis>
                    This task needs to be run in a fakeroot environment,
                    obtained by adding the variables in <filename>FAKEROOTENV</filename>
                    to the environment.</para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><emphasis>umask:</emphasis>
                    The umask to run the task under.</para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            For the 'deptask', 'rdeptask', 'depends', 'rdepends'and
            'recrdeptask' flags, please see the dependencies section.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='parsing-and-execution'>
        <title>Parsing and Execution</title>

        <section id='parsing-overview'>
            <title>Parsing Overview</title>

            <para>
                BitBake parses configuration files, classes, and
                <filename>.bb</filename> files.
            </para>

            <para>
                The first thing BitBake does is look for the
                <filename>bitbake.conf</filename> file.
                This file resides in the within the <filename>conf/</filename>
                directory.
                BitBake finds it by examining its <filename>BBPATH</filename>
                environment variable and looking for the
                <filename>conf/</filename> directory.
            </para>

            <para>
                The <filename>bitbake.conf</filename> file lists other configuration
                files to include from a <filename>conf/</filename> directory below the
                directories listed in <filename>BBPATH</filename>.
                In general, the most important configuration file from a user's perspective
                is <filename>local.conf</filename>, which contains a user's
                customized settings for the build environment.
                Other notable configuration files are the distribution configuration
                file (set by the <filename>DISTRO</filename> variable) and the machine
                configuration file (set by the <filename>MACHINE</filename> variable).
                The <filename>DISTRO</filename> and <filename>MACHINE</filename> BitBake
                environment variables are both usually set in the
                <filename>local.conf file</filename>.
                Valid distribution configuration files are available
                in the <filename>conf/distro/</filename> directory and valid machine
                configuration files in the <filename>meta/conf/machine/</filename>
                directory.
                Within the <filename>conf/machine/include/</filename> directory are
                various <filename>tune-*.inc</filename> configuration files
                that provide common "tuning" settings specific to and shared between
                particular architectures and machines.
            </para>

            <para>
                After parsing of the configuration files, some standard classes are
                included.
                The <filename>base.bbclass</filename> file
                is always included.
                Other classes that are specified in the configuration using the
                <filename>INHERIT</filename> variable are also included.
                Class files are searched for in a classes subdirectory under
                the paths in <filename>BBPATH</filename> in the same way as
                configuration files.
            </para>

            <para>
                After classes are included, the variable
                <filename>BBFILES</filename> is set, usually in
                <filename>local.conf</filename>, and defines the list of
                places to search for <filename>.bb</filename> files.
                Adding extra content to <filename>BBFILES</filename> is best
                achieved through the use of BitBake layers as described in the
                Layers section below.
            </para>

            <para>
                BitBake parses each <filename>.bb</filename> file in
                <filename>BBFILES</filename> and stores the values of various
                variables.
                In summary, for each <filename>.bb</filename> file the configuration
                plus the base class of variables are set, followed by the data in the
                <filename>.bb</filename> file itself, followed by any inherit commands
                that <filename>.bb</filename> file might contain.
            </para>

            <para>
                Because parsing <filename>.bb</filename> files is a time consuming
                process, a cache is kept to speed up subsequent parsing.
                This cache is invalid if the timestamp of the
                <filename>.bb</filename> file itself changes, or if the timestamps of
                any of the include, configuration files or class files on which
                the <filename>.bb</filename> file depends change.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='configiguration-files'>
            <title>Configuration files</title>

            <para>
                Prior to parsing configuration files, Bitbake looks
                at certain variables, including:
                <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB-ENV-WHITELIST</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_PRESERVE-ENV</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_ENV_EXTRAWHITE</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_ORIG_ENV</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>PREFERRED_VERSIONS</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>PREFERRED_PROVIDERS</filename></para></listitem>
                </itemizedlist>
            </para>

            <para>
                The first kind of metadata in BitBake is configuration metadata.
                This metadata is global, and therefore affects all packages and
                tasks that are executed.
            </para>

            <para>
                BitBake will first search the current working directory for an
                optional <filename>conf/bblayers.conf</filename> configuration file.
                This file is expected to contain a <filename>BBLAYERS</filename>
                variable that is a space delimited list of 'layer' directories.
                For each directory in this list, a <filename>conf/layer.conf</filename>
                file will be searched for and parsed with the
                <filename>LAYERDIR</filename> variable being set to the directory where
                the layer was found.
                The idea is these files will setup <filename>BBPATH</filename>
                and other variables correctly for a given build directory automatically
                for the user.
            </para>

            <para>
                BitBake will then expect to find <filename>conf/bitbake.conf</filename>
                file somewhere in the user specified <filename>BBPATH</filename>.
                That configuration file generally has include directives to pull
                in any other metadata (generally files specific to architecture,
                machine, local and so on).
            </para>

            <para>
                Only variable definitions and include directives are allowed
                in <filename>.conf</filename> files.
                The following variables include:
                <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BITBAKE_UI</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBDEBUG</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>MULTI_PROVIDER_WHITELIST</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_NUMBER_PARSE_THREADS</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBPKGS</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_DEFAULT_TASK</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>TOPDIR</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_VERBOSE_LOGS</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_NICE_LEVEL</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBFILE_COLLECTIONS</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>ASSUME_PROVIDED</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BB_DANGLINGAPPENDS_WARNONLY</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBINCLUDED</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBFILE_PRIORITY</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BUILDNAME</filename></para></listitem>
                    <listitem><para><filename>BBMASK</filename></para></listitem>
                </itemizedlist>
            </para>

            <section id='layers'>
                <title>Layers</title>

                <para>
                    Layers allow you to isolate different types of
                    customizations from each other.
                    You might find it tempting to keep everything in one layer
                    when working on a single project.
                    However, the more modular you organize your Metadata, the
                    easier it is to cope with future changes.
                </para>

                <para>
                    To illustrate how layers are used to keep things modular,
                    consider machine customizations.
                    These types of customizations typically reside in a special layer,
                    rather than a general layer, called a Board Specific Package (BSP) Layer.
                    Furthermore, the machine customizations should be isolated from
                    recipes and Metadata that support a new GUI environment, for
                    example.
                    This situation gives you a couple of layers: one for the machine
                    configurations, and one for the GUI environment.
                    It is important to understand, however, that the BSP layer can still
                    make machine-specific additions to recipes within
                    the GUI environment layer without polluting the GUI layer itself
                    with those machine-specific changes.
                    You can accomplish this through a recipe that is a BitBake append
                    (<filename>.bbappend</filename>) file, which is described
                    later in this section.
                </para>

                <para>
                    There are certain variable specific to layers, including:
                    <itemizedlist>
                        <listitem><para><filename>LAYERDEPENDS</filename></para></listitem>
                        <listitem><para><filename>LAYERVERSION</filename></para></listitem>
                    </itemizedlist>
                </para>
            </section>

            <section id='schedulers'>
                <title>Schedulers</title>

                <para>
                    There are variables specific to scheduling functionality
                    including:
                    <itemizedlist>
                        <listitem><para><filename>BB_SCHEDULER</filename></para></listitem>
                        <listitem><para><filename>BB_SCHEDULERS</filename></para></listitem>
                    </itemizedlist>
                </para>
            </section>
        </section>

        <section id='classes'>
            <title>Classes</title>

            <para>
                BitBake classes are our rudimentary inheritance mechanism.
                As briefly mentioned in the metadata introduction, they're
                parsed when an inherit directive is encountered, and they
                are located in the <filename>classes/</filename> directory
                relative to the directories in <filename>BBPATH</filename>.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='bb-files'>
            <title><filename>.bb</filename> Files</title>

            <para>
                A BitBake (<filename>.bb</filename>) file is a logical unit
                of tasks to be executed.
                Normally this is a package to be built.
                Inter-<filename>.bb</filename> dependencies are obeyed.
                The files themselves are located via the
                <filename>BBFILES</filename> variable, which
                is set to a space separated list of <filename>.bb</filename>
                files, and does handle wildcards.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='events'>
        <title>Events</title>

        <note>
            This is only supported in <filename>.bb</filename>
            and <filename>.bbclass</filename> files.
        </note>

        <para>
            BitBake allows installation of event handlers.
            Events are triggered at certain points during operation,
            such as the beginning of operation against a given
            <filename>.bb</filename>, the start of a given task,
            task failure, task success, and so forth.
            The intent is to make it easy to do things like email
            notification on build failure.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     addhandler myclass_eventhandler
     python myclass_eventhandler() {
         from bb.event import getName
         from bb import data
         print("The name of the Event is %s" % getName(e))
         print("The file we run for is %s" % data.getVar('FILE', e.data, True))
     }
            </literallayout>
            This event handler gets called every time an event is
            triggered.
            A global variable "<filename>e</filename>" is defined.
            "<filename>e.data</filename>" contains an instance of
            "<filename>bb.data</filename>".
            With the <filename>getName(e)</filename> method one can get
            the name of the triggered event.
        </para>

        <para>
            The above event handler prints the name of the event
            and the content of the <filename>FILE</filename> variable.
            During a Build, the following common events occur:
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ConfigParsed()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ParseStarted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ParseProgress()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ParseCompleted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.BuildStarted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.build.TaskStarted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.build.TaskInvalid()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.build.TaskFailedSilent()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.build.TaskFailed()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.build.TaskSucceeded()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.BuildCompleted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.cooker.CookerExit()</filename></para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
            Other events that occur based on specific requests to the server:
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.TreeDataPreparationStarted()</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.TreeDataPreparationProgress</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.TreeDataPreparationCompleted</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.DepTreeGenerated</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.CoreBaseFilesFound</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ConfigFilePathFound</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.FilesMatchingFound</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.ConfigFilesFound</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>bb.event.TargetsTreeGenerated</filename></para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='variants-class-extension-mechanism'>
        <title>Variants - Class Extension Mechanism</title>

        <para>
            Two BitBake features exist to facilitate the creation of
            multiple buildable incarnations from a single recipe file.
        </para>

        <para>
            The first is <filename>BBCLASSEXTEND</filename>.
            This variable is a space separated list of classes used to "extend" the
            recipe for each variant.
            Here is an example that results in a second incarnation of the current
            recipe being available.
            This second incarnation will have the "native" class inherited.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBCLASSEXTEND = "native"
            </literallayout>
            The second feature is <filename>BBVERSIONS</filename>.
            This variable allows a single recipe to build multiple versions of a
            project from a single recipe file, and allows you to specify
            conditional metadata (using the <filename>OVERRIDES</filename>
            mechanism) for a single version, or an optionally named range of versions:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBVERSIONS = "1.0 2.0 git"
     SRC_URI_git = "git://someurl/somepath.git"
            </literallayout>
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     BBVERSIONS = "1.0.[0-6]:1.0.0+ \ 1.0.[7-9]:1.0.7+"
     SRC_URI_append_1.0.7+ = "file://some_patch_which_the_new_versions_need.patch;patch=1"
            </literallayout>
            The name of the range will default to the original version of the
            recipe, so given OE, a recipe file of <filename>foo_1.0.0+.bb</filename>
            will default the name of its versions to <filename>1.0.0+</filename>.
            This is useful, as the range name is not only placed into overrides;
            it's also made available for the metadata to use in the form of the
            <filename>BPV</filename> variable, for use in
            <filename>file://</filename> search paths (<filename>FILESPATH</filename>).
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='dependencies'>
        <title>Dependencies</title>

        <section id='dependencies-overview'>
            <title>Overview</title>

            <para>
                BitBake handles dependencies at the task level since to
                allow for efficient operation with multiple
                processes executing in parallel, a robust method of
                specifying task dependencies is needed.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='dependencies-internal-to-the-bb-file'>
            <title>Dependencies Internal to the <filename>.bb</filename> File</title>

            <para>
                Where the dependencies are internal to a given
                <filename>.bb</filename> file, the dependencies are handled by the
                previously detailed <filename>addtask</filename> directive.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='build-dependencies'>
            <title>Build Dependencies</title>

            <para>
                <filename>DEPENDS</filename> lists build time dependencies.
                The 'deptask' flag for tasks is used to signify the task of each
                item listed in <filename>DEPENDS</filename> which must have
                completed before that task can be executed.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     do_configure[deptask] = "do_populate_staging"
                </literallayout>
                In the previous example, the <filename>do_populate_staging</filename>
                task of each item in <filename>DEPENDS</filename> must have completed before
                <filename>do_configure</filename> can execute.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='runtime-dependencies'>
            <title>Runtime Dependencies</title>

            <para>
                The <filename>PACKAGES</filename> variable lists runtime
                packages and each of these can have <filename>RDEPENDS</filename> and
                <filename>RRECOMMENDS</filename> runtime dependencies.
                The 'rdeptask' flag for tasks is used to signify the task of each
                item runtime dependency which must have completed before that
                task can be executed.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     do_package_write[rdeptask] = "do_package"
                </literallayout>
                In the previous example, the <filename>do_package</filename>
                task of each item in <filename>RDEPENDS</filename> must have
                completed before <filename>do_package_write</filename> can execute.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='recursive-dependencies'>
            <title>Recursive Dependencies</title>

            <para>
                These are specified with the 'recrdeptask' flag
                which is used to signify the task(s) of dependencies
                which must have completed before that task can be
                executed.
                It works by looking though the build
                and runtime dependencies of the current recipe as well
                as any inter-task dependencies the task has,
                then adding a dependency on the listed task.
                It will then recurse through the dependencies of those
                tasks and so on.
            </para>

            <para>
                It may be desireable to recurse not just through the
                dependencies of those tasks but through the
                build and runtime dependencies of dependent tasks too.
                If that is the case, the taskname itself should
                be referenced in the task list (e.g.
                <filename>do_a[recrdeptask] = "do_a do_b"</filename>).
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='inter-task-dependencies'>
            <title>Inter-Task Dependencies</title>

            <para>
                The 'depends' flag for tasks is a more generic form which
                allows an inter-dependency on specific tasks rather than specifying
                the data in <filename>DEPENDS</filename>.
                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     do_patch[depends] = "quilt-native:do_populate_staging"
                </literallayout>
                In the previous example, the <filename>do_populate_staging</filename>
                task of the target quilt-native must have completed before the
                <filename>do_patch</filename> task can execute.
            </para>

            <para>
                The 'rdepends' flag works in a similar way but takes targets
                in the runtime namespace instead of the build-time dependency
                namespace.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>

    <section id='accessing-variables-and-the-data-store-from-python'>
        <title>Accessing Variables and the Data Store from Python</title>

        <para>
            It is often necessary to manipulate variables within python functions
            and the Bitbake data store has an API which allows this.
            The operations available are:
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.getVar("X", expand=False)
            </literallayout>
            returns the value of variable "X", expanding the value
            if specified.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.setVar("X", value)
            </literallayout>
            sets the value of "X" to "value".
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.appendVar("X", value)
            </literallayout>
            adds "value" to the end of variable X.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.prependVar("X", value)
            </literallayout>
            adds "value" to the start of variable X.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.delVar("X")
            </literallayout>
            deletes the variable X from the data store.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.renameVar("X", "Y")
            </literallayout>
            renames variable X to Y.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.getVarFlag("X", flag, expand=False)
            </literallayout>
            gets given flag from variable X but does not expand it.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.setVarFlag("X", flag, value)
            </literallayout>
            sets given flag for variable X to value.
            <filename>setVarFlags</filename> will not clear previous flags.
            Think of this method as <filename>addVarFlags</filename>.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.appendVarFlag("X", flag, value)
            </literallayout>
            Need description.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.prependVarFlag("X", flag, value)
            </literallayout>
            Need description.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.delVarFlag("X", flag)
            </literallayout>
            Need description.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.setVarFlags("X", flagsdict)
            </literallayout>
            sets the flags specified in the <filename>dict()</filename> parameter.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.getVarFlags("X")
            </literallayout>
            returns a <filename>dict</filename> of the flags for X.
            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
     d.delVarFlags
            </literallayout>
            deletes all the flags for a variable.
        </para>
    </section>

    <section id='task-checksums-and-setscene'>
        <title>Task Checksums and Setscene</title>

        <para>
            This list is a place holder of content that needs explanation here.
            Items should be moved to appropriate sections below as completed.
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem><para><filename>STAMP</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>STAMPCLEAN</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_STAMP_WHITELIST</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_STAMP_POLICY</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_HASHCHECK_FUNCTION</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_SETSCENE_VERIFY_FUNCTION</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_SETSCENE_DEPVALID</filename></para></listitem>
                <listitem><para><filename>BB_TASKHASH</filename></para></listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
        </para>

        <section id='task-signatures'>
            <title>Task Signatures</title>

            <para>
                Need descriptions.
            </para>
        </section>

        <section id='hash-generation'>
            <title>Hash Generation</title>

            <para>
                Need descriptions.
            </para>
        </section>
    </section>
</chapter>