[oe] Getting Started -Makefile

[Richard Purdie]

On Tue, 2007-11-20 at 07:08 +1000, Lorn Potter wrote:
> Holger Freyther wrote:
> > Am 19.11.2007 um 13:08 schrieb David Farning:
> > 
> >> This eliminates many of problems the new users have setting up bb
> >> and oe.  There is no need to know any thing about svn of monotone.
> > 
> > Hey,
> > 
> > this is the issue you want to solve? IMO developers should know about  
> > how to build software and this includes getting the source. I think  
> > it is no use in hiding OpenEmbedded and BitBake behind a GNU Makefile.
> 
> well, me and lot of other developers disagree. Hence the popularity of 
> the openmoko makefile.
> 
> Are you trying to make it easier or harder to generate file systems? 
> Lots of developers do not have time to learn the symantics of 
> bitbake/monotone, etc.
> 
> Anything that can make it easier to set up and build is needed. 
> Otherwise it is just easier to build it from scratch.

I think Holger's point and the general feeling of other OE devs, me
included is that the current wave of makefiles hide too much. I had to
solve this problem with Poky and I did it with a script you source which
sets up a magic environment. I don't expect users to know/care about
what the script does. I do want users to end up typing "bitbake xyz"
though. Why?

Users end up realising that everything is either an SCM command ("svn
up" for Poky) or a bitbake one. Neither are complicated programs to
learn. Yes monotone is more complex than svn but all you really need to
know is "mtn pull;mtn up" and even then, understanding why there are two
commands actually teaches you something important about the SCM. Hiding
them from the user just creates a  phobia of using the real tools.

Cheers,

Richard