[Buildroot] [PATCH] Makefile: generate a Makefile wrapper in $(O)

[Yann E. MORIN]

Peter, All,

On Thursday 23 September 2010 23:04:49 Peter Korsgaard wrote:
>  Yann> If building out-of-tree, add a Makefile wrapper that calls-out
>  Yann> to the real Makefile with proper args.
>  Yann> Avoids having to pass -C and O= every time we call make.
>  Yann> This is highly inspired from how the Linux kernel does it, and
>  Yann> portions of it have been used.
> 
> Why only portions? Can't we use it all? That would make updating easier
> in the future.

Unfortunately, our 'out-of-tree' build in not similar to the one of the
kernel. In fact, we always do out-of-tree in buildroot. Let me explain...

Let's assume that $(TOPDIR) is the directory that holds the top-level
Makefile (of buildroot or the kernel).

In the Linux kernel, everything is output in $(O). The value of $(O) is
by default $(TOPDIR), and they call that "in-tree build". When the user
sets "O=blah" on the command line, then everything is put into that, and
they call that "out-of-tree build".

Now, in buildroot, we always output everything in $(O). The value of $(O)
is by default set to $(TOPDIR)/output, and we call that "in-tree build".
When the user sets "O=blah" on the command line, then everything is put
into that, and we call that "out-of-tree build".

See the slight difference in the "in-tree" case? That explains why I
couldn't use the same construct in the top-level Makefile.

Then, I have updated the mkmakefile script to remove any kernel-related
stuff. For example, we do not have a need for version and patchlevel,
and we do not have a 'quiet' build (where commands are replaced with
their beautified outputs, like CC foo/bar.o).

Next, in the Linux kernel, they always overwrite the wrapper Makefile
at each run. Doing so in buildroot caused the kconfig stuff to be always
rebuilt. So I added a check to only install the wrapper if its content
changed since last time it was isntalled.

I hope this clarifies the reasons why I said "portions of it". Those
"portions" would amount to 80-90% of this patch.

> Related to this, mkmakefile got updated in the kernel 
> back in August to support make 3.82, care to resync?

Will do, yes. Thanks for the review.

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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