[yocto] can all of the licensing discussion be centralized in an appendix?

[Rudolf Streif]

Scott,

That's great. The dev manual is very comprehensive and at the right level
of detail. I think many new as well as more experienced users of YP will
appreciate it. From a quick read the only suggestion I have for now is to
place the section on "Customizing Images" before the section on "Adding
Packages". Most users will probably first build custom images by adding
packages using readily available recipes before writing recipes for their
own packages.

The reference sections in the reference manual are great. The other
sections need more work on coherence. Layers should be added, also a
section that deals with the syntax and semantics of setting variables e.g.
+=, .= vs. _append etc. This is where most people get confused.

Another thing worth explaining in the reference manual is the use of the
Bitbake data structures in Python functions in recipes. This is where I can
see folks pulling their hair out too.

I will keep on rummaging through.

Rudi




On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Rifenbark, Scott M <
scott.m.rifenbark at intel.com> wrote:

>  Rudi, ****
>
> ** **
>
> Great comments!  Thanks very much.  I will immediately update the revision
> history tables to show the 1.2 release as WIP.  Not having it there did
> cause you confusion.  Good suggestion. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Regarding your other observations.  If you have the time I would
> appreciate you looking at the YP Development manual, particularly Chapter
> 4.  Much of the “how-to” stuff that was in the YP reference manual has been
> moved to there.  “Adding a Package” section that you noted was now missing
> is in fact in that area.  Let me give you some background on the strategy
> of the two manuals….****
>
> ** **
>
> I am trying to eventually turn the YP reference guide into a “reference”
> guide with minimal “how-to” information.  That is the long-term goal.  The
> YP Development Manual has been getting some how-to stuff added to it.
> Chapter 4 (Common Tasks) tells how to create layers, add a package,
> customize images, etc.).  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Here is the link to the “latest” YP Development Manual:
> http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/dev-manual/dev-manual.html.  With
> this new context, maybe you can augment or comment on your previous
> comments J****
>
> ** **
>
> I appreciate your help, ****
>
> Scott****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* rstreif at linuxfoundation.org [mailto:rstreif at linuxfoundation.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Rudolf Streif
> *Sent:* Monday, March 26, 2012 4:02 PM
> *To:* Rifenbark, Scott M
> *Cc:* yocto at yoctoproject.org
>
> *Subject:* Re: [yocto] can all of the licensing discussion be centralized
> in an appendix?****
>
>  ** **
>
> Scott,****
>
> ** **
>
>   ****
>
> >>
> http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/poky-ref-manual/poky-ref-manual.html
> .****
>
>  ****
>
>  Yes, I looked at that one but I now noticed that I referenced it
> incorrectly. This is the latest version, however, in the revision history
> it shows "Revision 1.1, October 6, 2011, Released with the Yocto Project
> Release 1.1".****
>
> ** **
>
> Now, this one
> http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/current/poky-ref-manual/poky-ref-manual.html is
> the current one but its revision history shows "Revision 1.1.1, March 15,
> 2012, Released with the Yocto Project Release 1.1.1".****
>
> ** **
>
> Ok, now I get how I confused myself successfully. I presume that the first
> is the newer one although its revision history suggests otherwise? Would
> you mind updating the revision history with something like "Revision 1.2,
> WIP, To be released with Yocto Project Release 1.2"?****
>
> ** **
>
> The latest one does not seem to have a section about writing recipes
> anymore at all. Are you planning on putting it back? While the previous one
> had a section on writing recipes it did so in a "vacuum". It told you how
> to write a recipe but not really where to put it and how to include it with
> an image. The latter it explained in the next section about customizing an
> image.****
>
> ** **
>
> The info about the licensing is great and dead-nuts on, however, a reader
> new to the Yocto Project would be missing the context. A good add-on to
> that paragraph would be that if you omit the md5 parameter in the
> LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable Bitbake will actually spit it out for you which
> is in particular useful if the checksum is calculated over a subset of a
> license file specified by startline and endline because md5sum won't easily
> do that for you.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> These are my suggestions:****
>
> ** **
>
> * Remove 3.3 x32 and 3.4 Licenses from section 3. Section 3 currently
> looks a little bit like a kitchen sink. The first two paragraphs deal with
> build system components and architecture, x32 then mixes a very specific
> technology into it for particular targets, and then Licenses tops it off
> with package licensing details. I would dedicate Section 3 to Yocto Project
> Build System Architecture only.****
>
> ** **
>
> * Then I would dedicate a section 4 to Build Customization:****
>
> ** The first subsection could deal with the most trivial customization
> through local.conf: EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES, IMAGE_INSTALL_append and
> CORE_IMAGE_EXTRA_INSTALL (formerly known as POKY_EXTRA_INSTALL)****
>
> ** The second subsection should then explain how to create your own layer
> within the build environment because before adding any recipe you need to
> have a layer to add it to. Mixing your own recipes in with meta or
> meta-yocto works but is not sustainable when upgrading to a newer release
> of the Yocto Project. And it's good practice too to keep your own stuff
> separate.****
>
> ** The third subsection should then explain how to extend images writing
> your own recipes:****
>
> *** writing a recipe that includes a base image and then adds more
> packages:****
>
>     require recipes-core/images/core-imabg-base.bb****
>
>     IMAGE_INSTALL += "strace"****
>
> *** writing an image that inherits from core-image****
>
>     IMAGE_INSTALL = "task-core-boot task-core-extended"****
>
>     IMAGE_FEATURES += "blabla"****
>
>     inherit core-image****
>
> ** the fourth subsection should then explain how to add your own packages
> with your own recipes. Now you already have everything in place: a layer to
> add to and a ways of including your recipes with an image. And here we then
> also need to explain the licensing stuff because recipes for building
> packages won't fly without.****
>
> ** the fifth section should then just reference the BSP manual for BSPs.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> Finally for my concept, we need to find a home for x32. I would put that
> under an "Advanced Topics" section which could act as a container for other
> stuff too such as multi-lib etc.****
>
> ** **
>
> Rudi****
>
>  ****
>
>   ****
>
> *From:* yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org [mailto:
> yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org] *On Behalf Of *Rudolf Streif
> *Sent:* Monday, March 26, 2012 2:52 PM
> *To:* yocto at yoctoproject.org
> *Subject:* Re: [yocto] can all of the licensing discussion be centralized
> in an appendix?****
>
>  ****
>
> >> there's *way* too much coverage of licensing sprinkled throughout.
> >> most people are not going to care about licensing until the time comes
> >> to maybe start distributing their BSP.****
>
>  The ability of collecting licensing information, tracking license
> changes and providing the license information automatically with the images
> and packages for deployment is in my opinion a major feature of Yocto
> albeit underestimated. Most people will only appreciate it once they have
> to deliver that information with a product for the end user. However, it
> starts much earlier, with the recipe.****
>
>  ****
>
> How to include licensing tracking information with your recipe needs to be
> part of the section explaining how to write recipes of the reference
> manual. In both, the current 1.1 and the upcoming 1.1.1, versions of the
> manual the license tracking section is a little disjoint from the sections
> explaining how to add packages/recipes in my opinion. The examples include
> the license tracking info, of course because otherwise the sanity checker
> will not allow building the recipe, but they don't explain that you
> actually need it (unless you use LICENSE = "CLOSED").****
>
>  ****
>
> Since the license tracking and deployment feature follows the rule
> "garbage in, garbage out" the manual cannot stress enough providing the
> correct info in particular when writing recipes for upstream projects.****
>
>  ****
>
> Side note: And nice features for a future release are SPDX info (already
> worked on as far as I know) and providing the license info in
> ${TMPDIR}/deploy/licenses according to the images in ${TMPDIR}/images so
> that one knows what licenses are in use for what image. That would be very
> convenient when building multiple images with different package content.**
> **
>
>  ****
>
> Rudi****
>
>  ** **
>
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