[Buildroot] Hiding non-buildable packages

Yann E. MORIN yann.morin.1998 at anciens.enib.fr
Wed Aug 22 20:44:38 UTC 2007


Ulf, Bernhard and All,

On Wednesday 22 August 2007 22:24, Ulf Samuelsson wrote:
> If people starting using buildroot had this help, then they could
> spend their time first building a working filesystem, and then select
> a specific, non-working package, to debug.

For what it's worth, here's my point of view.

When _I_ start from scratch on something I have no previous knowledge of, then
I tend to build the smallest set I can. In this case, I'd disable everything in
buildroot, save building the toolchain.

Once I get that first step right, I start by adding things bit after bit. For
buildroot, BusyBox looks the most basic thing that can be added to a bare rootfs.

Again, once this is working, I would get more comfortable to try other things,
such as adding other tools, for example wireless tools (supposing I'd need that).

And so on till I get something that doesn't build, which I'd try to debug, submit
a patch or workaround, and resort to asking help if I can't solve it on my own.

What I'm trying to say is that someone starting with buildroot and expecting
to be able to build every and all packages shouldn't be surprised if something
goes amiss.

The rule is: divide and rule. Take pieces bit after bit while it works, and
you get a 'stable' basis to try a new feature. Bash this new feature until it
works, and start again.

On a personal experience, I have background that tells me what package to add
or not in a config. This is becaise I've had previous experience telling me
that such or such option is valis in such or such circumstances. Those are far
too complex to express in terms of Kconfig, I'm afraid.

> If it is known not to build, it is good to communicate this to others.

But it might build in some cases which are not your daily config.

My 2 euro-cents.

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +0/33 662376056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |   ^                |
| --==< °_° >==-- °------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  /e\  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | (*_*) | / \ HTML MAIL    |  """  conspiracy.  |
°------------------------------°-------°------------------°--------------------°




More information about the buildroot mailing list