Autobuild

Applications based on the AGL framework should have a full build and packaging solution that is independent of the Yocto Project workflow.

You can create a script named autobuild to control applications build operations. AGL provides a BitBake class file (aglwgt.bbclass) that calls the autobuild script for all operations. The class file is located at the top level of the application repository.

You can write the autobuild script using any of the following languages:

  • Makefile
  • Bash
  • Python

The script executes directly after applying a chmod() command. The caller, which can be the aglwgt.bbclass, a Jenkins job, or an actual person, must make the autobuild executable before calling it. To facilitate direct execution, you need to start the script with a shebang sequence:

  • '#!/usr/bin/make -f' for Makefile format
  • '#!/usr/bin/bash' for Bash format

The calling convention is similar to the convention used in make. To pass arguments, use environment variables.

NOTE: For Bash, an evaluation of the arguments sets the environment variables correctly.

The following format shows the generic call:

autobuild/agl/autobuild <command> [ARG1="value1" [ARG2="value2" ... ]]

The autobuild script can be invoked from any directory with all paths considered to be relative to the script's location. For makefile scripts, this is the usual behavior. For Bash scripts, a cd $(dirname $0) command must be run at the beginning of the script.

At build time, the following calls must be made in the following order:

  1. Initialize the build environment (e.g if the application uses cmake the configure step runs CMake).

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild configure CONFIGURE_ARGS="..."

  1. Build the application (i.e. compile, link binaries, assembles javascript, and so forth).

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild build BUILD_ARGS="...."

  1. Create the widget package(s) in the specified destination path prepared by the caller.

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild package PACKAGE_ARGS="..." DEST=<path-for-resulting-wgt-files>

  1. Create the test widget package(s) in the specified destination path prepared by the caller.

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild package-test PACKAGE_ARGS="..." DEST=<path-for-resulting-wgt-files>

  1. Clean the built files by removing the result of the autobuild build.

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild clean CLEAN_ARGS="..."

  1. Clean everything by removing the result of the autobuild build and the autobuild configure.

bash autobuild/agl/autobuild distclean DISTCLEAN_ARGS="..."

Integrating autobuild into the Yocto Project Workflow

If you want to integrate the autobuild script into the Yocto Project workflow, you need to generate the script. To generate the script, use the autobuild target.

The following commands create the autobuild script in the autobuild/agl directory:

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake .. && make autobuild

Available Targets

Following are the targets available from the autobuild script:

  • clean: Removes all the object files and target results generated by Makefile.
  • distclean: Deletes the build directory.
  • configure: Generates the project Makefile from the CMakeLists.txt files.
  • build: Compiles all project targets.
  • package: Builds a widget (wgt) package.
  • package-test: Builds the test wgt package and the normal wgt package.
  • install: Installs the project into your filesystem.

Specifying the following variables lets you modify compilation behavior:

  • CLEAN_ARGS: Variable used at clean time.
  • DISTCLEAN_ARGS: Variable used at distclean time.
  • CONFIGURE_ARGS: Variable used at configure time.
  • BUILD_ARGS: Variable used at build time.
  • DEST*: Directory in which to place the created wgt*** file. The default directory is the build root directory.

When you provide a variable, use the CMake format (i.e. BUILD_ARGS="-DC_FLAGS='-g -O2'"). Following is an example:

./autobuild/agl/autobuild package DEST=/tmp