[OE-core] value of "PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN" versus "PACKAGES =+"?

[Robert P. J. Day]

  just now noticed the variable PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN, whose entire
usage in poky (other than documentation) is:

meta/conf/bitbake.conf:PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN ?= ""
meta/conf/bitbake.conf:PACKAGES = "${PN}-dbg ${PN}-staticdev ${PN}-dev ${PN}-doc ${PN}-locale ${PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN} ${PN}"
meta/classes/lib_package.bbclass:PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN = "${PN}-bin"

  is there an actual need for that variable that places the new
package names *precisely* in that location in the PACKAGES list?  and
given the specificity of the initial PN-related packages:

  "${PN}-dbg ${PN}-staticdev ${PN}-dev ${PN}-doc ${PN}-locale"

is there any reason more recipes couldn't use PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN
instead of "PACKAGES =+" when defining new packages?  i *realize*
those two things don't represent the same thing but, in many cases,
would the end result be the same?

  is there any reason more code doesn't use "PACKAGE_BEFORE_PN"?

rday



-- 

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Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
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