| .. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-2.0-UK |
| |
| ************ |
| Introduction |
| ************ |
| |
| eSDK Introduction |
| ================= |
| |
| Welcome to the Yocto Project Application Development and the Extensible |
| Software Development Kit (eSDK) manual. This manual |
| explains how to use both the Yocto Project extensible and standard |
| SDKs to develop applications and images. |
| |
| All SDKs consist of the following: |
| |
| - *Cross-Development Toolchain*: This toolchain contains a compiler, |
| debugger, and various associated tools. |
| |
| - *Libraries, Headers, and Symbols*: The libraries, headers, and |
| symbols are specific to the image (i.e. they match the image |
| against which the SDK was built). |
| |
| - *Environment Setup Script*: This ``*.sh`` file, once sourced, sets up the |
| cross-development environment by defining variables and preparing for |
| SDK use. |
| |
| Additionally, an extensible SDK has tools that allow you to easily add |
| new applications and libraries to an image, modify the source of an |
| existing component, test changes on the target hardware, and easily |
| integrate an application into the :term:`OpenEmbedded Build System`. |
| |
| You can use an SDK to independently develop and test code that is |
| destined to run on some target machine. SDKs are completely |
| self-contained. The binaries are linked against their own copy of |
| ``libc``, which results in no dependencies on the target system. To |
| achieve this, the pointer to the dynamic loader is configured at install |
| time since that path cannot be dynamically altered. This is the reason |
| for a wrapper around the ``populate_sdk`` and ``populate_sdk_ext`` |
| archives. |
| |
| Another feature of the SDKs is that only one set of cross-compiler |
| toolchain binaries are produced for any given architecture. This feature |
| takes advantage of the fact that the target hardware can be passed to |
| ``gcc`` as a set of compiler options. Those options are set up by the |
| environment script and contained in variables such as |
| :term:`CC` and |
| :term:`LD`. This reduces the space needed |
| for the tools. Understand, however, that every target still needs its own |
| sysroot because those binaries are target-specific. |
| |
| The SDK development environment consists of the following: |
| |
| - The self-contained SDK, which is an architecture-specific |
| cross-toolchain and matching sysroots (target and native) all built |
| by the OpenEmbedded build system (e.g. the SDK). The toolchain and |
| sysroots are based on a :term:`Metadata` |
| configuration and extensions, which allows you to cross-develop on |
| the host machine for the target hardware. Additionally, the |
| extensible SDK contains the ``devtool`` functionality. |
| |
| - The Quick EMUlator (QEMU), which lets you simulate target hardware. |
| QEMU is not literally part of the SDK. You must build and include |
| this emulator separately. However, QEMU plays an important role in |
| the development process that revolves around use of the SDK. |
| |
| In summary, the extensible and standard SDK share many features. |
| However, the extensible SDK has powerful development tools to help you |
| more quickly develop applications. Following is a table that summarizes |
| the primary differences between the standard and extensible SDK types |
| when considering which to build: |
| |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | *Feature* | *Standard SDK* | *Extensible SDK* | |
| +=======================+=======================+=======================+ |
| | Toolchain | Yes | Yes [1]_ | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Debugger | Yes | Yes [1]_ | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Size | 100+ MBytes | 1+ GBytes (or 300+ | |
| | | | MBytes for minimal | |
| | | | w/toolchain) | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | ``devtool`` | No | Yes | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Build Images | No | Yes | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Updateable | No | Yes | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Managed Sysroot [2]_ | No | Yes | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Installed Packages | No [3]_ | Yes [4]_ | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| | Construction | Packages | Shared State | |
| +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ |
| |
| .. [1] Extensible SDK contains the toolchain and debugger if :term:`SDK_EXT_TYPE` |
| is "full" or :term:`SDK_INCLUDE_TOOLCHAIN` is "1", which is the default. |
| .. [2] Sysroot is managed through the use of ``devtool``. Thus, it is less |
| likely that you will corrupt your SDK sysroot when you try to add |
| additional libraries. |
| .. [3] You can add runtime package management to the standard SDK but it is not |
| supported by default. |
| .. [4] You must build and make the shared state available to extensible SDK |
| users for "packages" you want to enable users to install. |
| |
| The Cross-Development Toolchain |
| ------------------------------- |
| |
| The :term:`Cross-Development Toolchain` consists |
| of a cross-compiler, cross-linker, and cross-debugger that are used to |
| develop user-space applications for targeted hardware; in addition, |
| the extensible SDK comes with built-in ``devtool`` |
| functionality. This toolchain is created by running a SDK installer |
| script or through a :term:`Build Directory` that is based on |
| your metadata configuration or extension for your targeted device. The |
| cross-toolchain works with a matching target sysroot. |
| |
| Sysroots |
| -------- |
| |
| The native and target sysroots contain needed headers and libraries for |
| generating binaries that run on the target architecture. The target |
| sysroot is based on the target root filesystem image that is built by |
| the OpenEmbedded build system and uses the same metadata configuration |
| used to build the cross-toolchain. |
| |
| The QEMU Emulator |
| ----------------- |
| |
| The QEMU emulator allows you to simulate your hardware while running |
| your application or image. QEMU is not part of the SDK but is |
| automatically installed and available if you have done any one of |
| the following: |
| |
| - cloned the ``poky`` Git repository to create a |
| :term:`Source Directory` and sourced the environment setup script. |
| |
| - downloaded a Yocto Project release and unpacked it to |
| create a Source Directory and sourced the environment setup |
| script. |
| |
| - installed the cross-toolchain tarball and |
| sourced the toolchain's setup environment script. |
| |
| SDK Development Model |
| ===================== |
| |
| Fundamentally, the SDK fits into the development process as follows: |
| |
| .. image:: figures/sdk-environment.png |
| :align: center |
| |
| The SDK is installed on any machine and can be used to develop applications, |
| images, and kernels. An SDK can even be used by a QA Engineer or Release |
| Engineer. The fundamental concept is that the machine that has the SDK |
| installed does not have to be associated with the machine that has the |
| Yocto Project installed. A developer can independently compile and test |
| an object on their machine and then, when the object is ready for |
| integration into an image, they can simply make it available to the |
| machine that has the Yocto Project. Once the object is available, the |
| image can be rebuilt using the Yocto Project to produce the modified |
| image. |
| |
| You just need to follow these general steps: |
| |
| 1. *Install the SDK for your target hardware:* For information on how to |
| install the SDK, see the ":ref:`sdk-manual/using:installing the sdk`" |
| section. |
| |
| 2. *Download or Build the Target Image:* The Yocto Project supports |
| several target architectures and has many pre-built kernel images and |
| root filesystem images. |
| |
| If you are going to develop your application on hardware, go to the |
| :yocto_dl:`machines </releases/yocto/yocto-&DISTRO;/machines/>` download area and choose a |
| target machine area from which to download the kernel image and root |
| filesystem. This download area could have several files in it that |
| support development using actual hardware. For example, the area |
| might contain ``.hddimg`` files that combine the kernel image with |
| the filesystem, boot loaders, and so forth. Be sure to get the files |
| you need for your particular development process. |
| |
| If you are going to develop your application and then run and test it |
| using the QEMU emulator, go to the |
| :yocto_dl:`machines/qemu </releases/yocto/yocto-&DISTRO;/machines/qemu>` download area. From this |
| area, go down into the directory for your target architecture (e.g. |
| ``qemux86_64`` for an Intel-based 64-bit architecture). Download the |
| kernel, root filesystem, and any other files you need for your |
| process. |
| |
| .. note:: |
| |
| To use the root filesystem in QEMU, you need to extract it. See the |
| ":ref:`sdk-manual/appendix-obtain:extracting the root filesystem`" |
| section for information on how to do this extraction. |
| |
| 3. *Develop and Test your Application:* At this point, you have the |
| tools to develop your application. If you need to separately install |
| and use the QEMU emulator, you can go to `QEMU Home |
| Page <https://wiki.qemu.org/Main_Page>`__ to download and learn about |
| the emulator. See the ":doc:`/dev-manual/qemu`" chapter in the |
| Yocto Project Development Tasks Manual for information on using QEMU |
| within the Yocto Project. |
| |
| The remainder of this manual describes how to use the extensible and |
| standard SDKs. There is also information in appendix form describing |
| how you can build, install, and modify an SDK. |