BUILDING revision 1.1
1BUILDING(8)             NetBSD System Manager's Manual             BUILDING(8)
2
3NAME
4     BUILDING - Procedure for building NetBSD from source code.
5
6STATUS
7     This document is a work-in-progress.  As such, the information described
8     here may not match the reality of the build system as of this writing.
9     Once this document is completely in sync with reality, this paragraph
10     will be removed.
11
12     Discrepancies between this documentation and the current reality of im-
13     plementation are noted specially, as with the note below:
14
15     Note: This document applies only to platforms which use the new toolchain
16     as indicated by the setting of USE_NEW_TOOLCHAIN in /etc/mk.conf or
17     <bsd.own.mk>.  Platforms which have not yet been switched to the new
18     toolchain should continue building traditionally, using the notes speci-
19     fied in the file UPDATING.
20
21REQUIREMENTS
22     NetBSD is designed to be buildable on most POSIX-compliant host systems.
23     The basic build procedure is the same whether compiling natively (on the
24     same NetBSD architecture) or cross compiling (on another architecture or
25     OS).
26
27     This source tree contains a special subtree, ``tools'', which uses the
28     host system to create a build toolchain for the target architecture.  The
29     host system must have at least C and C++ compilers in order to create the
30     toolchain (make is not required); all other tools are created as part of
31     the NetBSD build process.
32
33           Note: A couple host toolchain components are not yet available in
34           the tools directory.  Also, some tools use non-POSIX, non-ANSI C
35           extensions and need to be standardized.  As a result, cross-compil-
36           ing from systems other than NetBSD is not currently supported.
37
38FILES
39   Source tree layout
40
41     BUILDING.mdoc  This document (in -mdoc troff format; the original copy).
42
43     BUILDING.html  This document (in formatted HTML).
44
45     BUILDING.txt   This document (in plaintext).
46
47     Makefile       The main Makefile for NetBSD; should only be run for na-
48                    tive builds with an appropriately up-to-date version of
49                    NetBSD make(1).  (For building from out-of-date systems or
50                    on a non-native host, see the build.sh shell script.)
51
52     UPDATING       Special notes for updating from an earlier revision of
53                    NetBSD.  It is important to read this file before every
54                    build of an updated source tree.
55
56     build.sh       Bourne-compatible shell script used for building the host
57                    build tools and the NetBSD system from scratch.  Can be
58                    used for both native and cross builds, and should be used
59                    instead of make(1) for any source tree that is updated and
60                    recompiled regularly.
61
62     crypto/dist/, dist/, gnu/dist/
63                    Sources imported verbatim from third parties, without man-
64                    gling the existing build structure.  Other source trees in
65                    bin through usr.sbin use the NetBSD make(1) ``reachover''
66                    Makefile semantics when building these programs for a na-
67                    tive host.
68
69     distrib/, etc/
70                    Sources for items used when making a full release snap-
71                    shot, such as files installed in /etc on the destination
72                    system, boot media, and release notes.
73
74     regress/       Regression test harness.  Can be cross-compiled, but only
75                    run natively.
76
77     sys/           NetBSD kernel sources.
78
79     tools/         ``Reachover'' build structure for the host build tools.
80                    This has a special method of determining out-of-date sta-
81                    tus.
82
83     bin/ ... usr.sbin/
84                    Sources to the NetBSD userland (non-kernel) programs.  If
85                    any of these directories are missing, they will be skipped
86                    during the build.
87
88   Build tree layout
89     The NetBSD build tree is described in hier(7), and the release layout is
90     described in release(7).
91
92CONFIGURATION
93   "make" variables
94     Several variables control the behavior of NetBSD builds.  Unless other-
95     wise specified, these variables may be set in either the process environ-
96     ment or the make(1) configuration file specified by MAKECONF.
97
98     DESTDIR     Directory to contain the built NetBSD system.  If set, spe-
99                 cial options are passed to the compilation tools to prevent
100                 their default use of the host system's /usr/include,
101                 /usr/lib, and so forth.  This pathname should not end with a
102                 slash (/) character (for installation into the system's root
103                 directory, set DESTDIR to an empty string).
104
105                 Default: Empty string if USETOOLS is ``yes''; unset other-
106                 wise.
107
108     MAKECONF    The name of the make(1) configuration file.  Only settable in
109                 the process environment.
110
111                 Default: ``/etc/mk.conf''
112
113     MKCATPAGES  Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether prefor-
114                 matted plaintext manual pages will be created during a build.
115
116                 Default: ``yes''
117
118     MKCRYPTO    Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether crypto-
119                 graphic code will be included in a build; provided for the
120                 benefit of countries that do not allow strong cryptography.
121                 Will not affect use of the standard low-security password en-
122                 cryption system, crypt(3).
123
124                 Default: ``yes''
125
126     MKDOC       Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether system
127                 documentation destined for /usr/share/doc will be installed
128                 during a build.
129
130                 Default: ``yes''
131
132     MKINFO      Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether GNU Info
133                 files, used for the documentation for most of the compilation
134                 tools, will be created and installed during a build.
135
136                 Default: ``yes''
137
138     MKLINT      Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether lint(1)
139                 will be run against portions of the NetBSD source code during
140                 the build, and whether lint libraries will be installed into
141                 /usr/libdata/lint.
142
143                 Default: ``yes''
144
145     MKMAN       Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether manual
146                 pages will be installed during a build.
147
148                 Default: ``yes''
149
150     MKNLS       Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether Native
151                 Language System locale zone files will be compiled and in-
152                 stalled during a build.
153
154                 Default: ``yes''
155
156     MKOBJ       Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether object
157                 directories will be created when running ``make obj''.  If
158                 set to ``no'', then all built files will be located inside
159                 the regular source tree.
160
161                 Default: ``yes''
162
163     MKPIC       Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether shared
164                 objects and libraries will be created and installed during a
165                 build.  If set to ``no'', the entire built system will be
166                 statically linked.
167
168                 Default: Platform dependent.  As of this writing, all plat-
169                 forms except sh3 default to ``yes''.
170
171     MKPICINSTALL
172                 Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether the ar(1)
173                 format libraries (lib*_pic.a), used to generate shared li-
174                 braries, are installed during a build.
175
176                 Default: ``yes''
177
178     MKPROFILE   Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether profiled
179                 libraries (lib*_p.a) will be built and installed during a
180                 build.
181
182                 Default: ``yes''; however, some platforms turn off MKPROFILE
183                 by default at times due to toolchain problems with profiled
184                 code.
185
186     MKSHARE     Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether files
187                 destined to reside in /usr/share will be built and installed
188                 during a build.  If set to ``no'', then all of MKCATPAGES,
189                 MKDOC, MKINFO, MKMAN, and MKNLS will be set to ``no'' uncon-
190                 ditionally.
191
192                 Default: ``yes''
193
194     TOOLDIR     Directory to hold the host tools, once built.  This directory
195                 should be unique to a given host system and NetBSD source
196                 tree.  (However, multiple targets may share the same TOOLDIR;
197                 the target-dependent files have unique names.)  If unset, a
198                 default based on the uname(1) information of the host plat-
199                 form will be created in the .OBJDIR of src/tools.
200
201                 Default: Unset.
202
203     UPDATE      If set, then all install operations intended to write to
204                 DESTDIR will compare file timestamps before installing, and
205                 skip the install phase if the destination files are up-to-
206                 date.  This also has implications on full builds (see next
207                 subsection).
208
209                 Default: Unset.
210
211     USETOOLS    Indicates whether the tools specified by TOOLDIR should be
212                 used as part of a build in progress.  Must be set to ``yes''
213                 if cross-compiling.
214
215                 yes    Use the tools from TOOLDIR.
216
217                 no     Do not use the tools from TOOLDIR, but refuse to build
218                        native compilation tool components that are version-
219                        specific for that tool.
220
221                 never  Do not use the tools from TOOLDIR, even when building
222                        native tool components.  This is similar to the tradi-
223                        tional NetBSD build method, but does not verify that
224                        the compilation tools in use are up-to-date enough in
225                        order to build the tree successfully.  This may cause
226                        build or runtime problems when building the whole
227                        NetBSD source tree.
228
229                 Default: ``yes'' if building all or part of a whole NetBSD
230                 source tree (detected automatically); ``no'' otherwise (to
231                 preserve traditional semantics of the <bsd.*.mk> make(1) in-
232                 clude files).
233
234   "make" variables for full builds
235     These variables only affect the top level ``Makefile'' and do not manual-
236     ly building subtrees of the NetBSD source code.
237
238     MKOBJDIRS      Can be set to ``yes'' or ``no''.  Indicates whether object
239                    directories will be created automatically (via a ``make
240                    obj'' pass) at the start of a build.
241
242                    Default: ``yes''
243
244     MKTOOLS        Indicates whether the host tools will be built and in-
245                    stalled automatically if they are out-of-date.
246
247                    yes    Build tools as needed into TOOLDIR, but only if the
248                           tools in question are out-of-date.
249
250                    no     Do not update the tools in TOOLDIR; halt the build
251                           as a safety precaution if tools are out-of-date.
252
253                    always
254                           Always rebuild the tools in TOOLDIR from scratch
255                           during a build.  This is similar to the standard
256                           NetBSD source tree build method, but is not typi-
257                           cally required for host tools.
258
259                    Default: ``yes''
260
261     NBUILDJOBS     If set, specifies the number of parallel make(1) processes
262                    that should be run simultaneously.  This can speed up
263                    builds on SMP machines, or machines with much more CPU
264                    power than I/O availability.  This should be used instead
265                    of the make(1) option -j, in order to ensure proper order-
266                    ing of build components.
267
268                    Default: Unset.
269
270     NOCLEANDIR     If set, avoids the ``make cleandir'' phase of a full
271                    build.  This has the effect of allowing only changed files
272                    in a source tree to be recompiled.  This can speed up
273                    builds when updating only a few files in the tree.
274
275                    Default: Unset.
276
277     NODISTRIBDIRS  If set, avoids the ``make distrib-dirs'' phase of a full
278                    build.  This skips running mtree(8) on DESTDIR, useful on
279                    systems where building as an unprivileged user, or where
280                    it is known that the system-wide mtree files have not
281                    changed.
282
283                    Default: Unset.
284
285     NOINCLUDES     If set, avoids the ``make includes'' phase of a full
286                    build.  This has the effect of preventing make(1) from
287                    thinking that some programs are out-of-date simply because
288                    the system include files have changed.  However, this op-
289                    tion should not be used when updating the entire NetBSD
290                    source tree arbitrarily; it is suggested to use UPDATE in
291                    that case.
292
293                    Default: Unset.
294
295     RELEASEDIR     If set, specifies the directory to which a release(7) lay-
296                    out will be written at the end of a ``make release''.
297
298                    Default: Unset.
299
300     UPDATE         If set, then in addition to the effects described for UP-
301                    DATE above, this implies the effects of NOCLEANDIR.
302
303BUILDING
304   "make" command line options
305     This is only a summary of options available to make(1); only the options
306     used most frequently with NetBSD builds are listed here.
307
308     -m dir     Specify the default directory for searching for system Make-
309                file segments, mainly the <bsd.*.mk> files.  When building any
310                full NetBSD source tree, this should be set to the
311                ``share/mk'' directory in the source tree.  (This is set auto-
312                matically when building from the top level.)
313
314     -n         Display the commands that would have been executed, but do not
315                actually execute them.  This will still cause recursion to
316                take place.
317
318     -v var     Print make(1)'s idea of the value of var.  Does not build any
319                targets.
320
321     var=value  Set the variable var to value, overriding any setting speci-
322                fied by the process environment, the MAKECONF configuration
323                file, or the system Makefile segments.
324
325   "make" targets
326     These default targets may be built by running make(1) in any subtree of
327     the NetBSD source code.  It is recommended that none of these be used
328     from the top level Makefile; as a specific exception, ``make obj'' and
329     ``make cleandir'' are useful in that context.
330
331     all        Build programs, libraries, and preformatted documentation.
332
333     clean      Remove program and library object code files.
334
335     cleandir   Same as clean, but also remove preformatted documentation, de-
336                pendency files generated by ``make depend'', and any other
337                files known to be created at build time.  ``make distclean''
338                may be used as a synonym, for familiarity with a similar well-
339                known convention.
340
341     depend     Create dependency files (.depend) containing more detailed in-
342                formation about the dependencies of source code on header
343                files.  Allows programs to be recompiled automatically when a
344                dependency changes.
345
346     dependall  Does a ``make depend'' immediately followed by a ``make all''.
347                This combined target recurses as an atomic unit, so that the
348                ``make depend'' phase can participate in make -j parallelism.
349
350     includes   Build and install system header files.  Typically needed be-
351                fore any system libraries or programs can be built.
352
353     install    Install programs, libraries, and documentation into DESTDIR.
354
355     lint       Run lint(1) against the C source code, where appropriate, and
356                generate system-installed lint libraries.
357
358     obj        Create object directories to be used for built files, instead
359                of building directly in the source tree.
360
361     tags       Create ctags(1) searchable function lists usable by the ex(1)
362                and vi(1) text editors.
363
364   "make" targets for the top level
365     Additional make(1) targets are usable specifically from the top source
366     level to facilitate building the entire NetBSD source tree.
367
368     build      Build the entire NetBSD system.  This orders portions of the
369                source tree such that prerequisites will be built in the prop-
370                er order.
371
372     release    Do a ``make build'', then package the system into a standard
373                release layout as described by release(7).  This requires that
374                RELEASEDIR be set (see above).
375
376     regression-tests
377                Can only be run after building the regression tests in the di-
378                rectory ``regress''.  Runs the compiled regression tests on
379                the local host.
380
381   The "build.sh" script
382     This script file is a Bourne shell script designed to build the entire
383     NetBSD system on any host with a Bourne shell in /bin/sh, including many
384     that are not POSIX compliant.  Note that if a host system's /bin/sh is
385     unusually old and broken, the Korn Shell (/bin/ksh), if available, may be
386     a usable alternative.
387
388     All cross-compile builds, and most native builds, of the entire system
389     should make use of build.sh rather than just running ``make''.  This way,
390     the make(1) program will be bootstrapped properly, in case the host sys-
391     tem has an older or incompatible ``make'' program.
392
393     When compiling the entire system via build.sh, many make(1) variables are
394     set for you in order to help encapsulate the build process.  In the list
395     of options below, variables that are automatically set by build.sh are
396     noted where applicable.
397
398     The following are available command line options that may be supplied to
399     build.sh:
400
401     -a arch   Set the value of MACHINE_ARCH to arch.
402
403     -b        Bootstrap ``make'' and create a nbmake-MACHINE script (see be-
404               low).
405
406     -j njob   Set the value of NBUILDJOBS to njob.  This provides similar
407               functionality to the familiar ``make -j'', but preserves the
408               ordering of the top level ``make build''.
409
410     -m mach   Set the value of MACHINE to mach.  This will also override any
411               value of MACHINE_ARCH in the process environment with a value
412               deduced from mach, unless -a is specified.  All cross builds
413               require -m, but if unset on a NetBSD host, the host's value of
414               MACHINE will be detected and used automatically.
415
416     -n        Show the commands that would be executed by build.sh, but do
417               not make any changes.  This is similar in concept to ``make
418               -n''.
419
420     -o        Set the value of MKOBJDIRS to ``no''.
421
422     -r        Remove the contents of DESTDIR and TOOLDIR before building
423               (provides a clean starting point).  This will skip deleting
424               DESTDIR if building on a native system to the root directory.
425
426     -t        Build and install the host tools from src/tools only.  This op-
427               tion implies -b.
428
429     -u        Set the UPDATE variable.
430
431     -w wrapper
432               Create the nbmake wrapper script (see below) in a custom loca-
433               tion, specified by wrapper.  This allows, for instance, to
434               place the wrapper in PATH automatically.  Note that wrapper is
435               the full name of the file, not just a directory name.
436
437     -D dest   Set the value of DESTDIR to dest.
438
439     -O obj    Create an appropriate transform macro for MAKEOBJDIR that will
440               place the built object files under obj.  For instance, a set-
441               ting of /usr/obj will place build-time files files under
442               /usr/obj/bin, /usr/obj/lib, and so forth.
443
444     -R rel    Set the value of RELEASEDIR to rel.  Setting this option will
445               cause build.sh to run ``make release'' instead of ``make
446               build''.
447
448     -T tools  Set the value of TOOLDIR to tools.  If set, the bootstrap
449               ``make'' will only be rebuilt as needed (when the source files
450               for make(1) change).
451
452   The "nbmake-MACHINE" wrapper script
453     If using the build.sh script to build NetBSD, a nbmake-MACHINE script
454     will be created in TOOLDIR/bin upon the first build to assist in building
455     subtrees on a cross-compile host.
456
457     nbmake-MACHINE can be invoked in lieu of make(1), and will instead call
458     the up-to-date version of ``nbmake'' installed into TOOLDIR/bin with sev-
459     eral key variables pre-set, including MACHINE, MACHINE_ARCH, and TOOLDIR.
460     This script can be symlinked into a directory listed in PATH, or called
461     with an absolute path.
462
463SEE ALSO
464     make(1), hier(7), release(7)
465
466HISTORY
467     The USE_NEW_TOOLCHAIN based build scheme was introduced in the ``NetBSD-
468     current'' development sources between NetBSD 1.5 and NetBSD 1.6.
469
470BUGS
471     Many platforms are not yet using the USE_NEW_TOOLCHAIN system.
472
473NetBSD                         October 29, 2001                              8
474