On 5/7/2014 5:58 AM, Paul Eggleton wrote:

On Tuesday 06 May 2014 15:23:45 Bob Feretich wrote:

On 5/6/2014 2:38 AM, Paul Eggleton wrote:

On Tuesday 06 May 2014 06:47:08 Rifenbark, Scott M wrote:

-----Original Message-----
From: yocto-bounces@... [mailto:yocto-
bounces@...] On Behalf Of Bob Feretich
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 4:52 PM
To: yocto@...
Subject: [yocto] Definition of Yocto tasks

Is there a document that provides a detailed definition of what each
these
tasks do?
Yocto, OE, and bitbake manuals tell us how to command a specific task to
be
run, but not what they do.

The task name provides a good hint sometimes, but often that is not
enough.
Users shouldn't have to read the python code for this information. These
descriptions should be a part of the yocto manual.

Sections 5.3.4 to 5.3.11 of the Yocto mega-manual provide a good
overview
of some of these tasks in the context of a workflow, but doesn't mention
most of these tasks and doesn't go into enough detail on the tasks it
discusses.

It wouldn't be appropriate to add more detail at that point in the
manual,
but it would be appropriate to include details regarding all of the
tasks
in an appendix.

Examples...
The manual states that do_fetch fetches source, but doesn't state that
when
git is used whether it performs a pull, fetch, or clone. What are the
common failure conditions of do_fetch? And what should the user do to
fix
the problem?

do_build is mentioned a few times, but there is no reference to it being
the default task or what tasks are invoked by do_build and which are
omitted.

do_rm_work and do_wm_work_all are not mentioned at all.

Result of listtasks:
do_fetchall
... snipped ...
do_rm_work_all

I don't have the knowledge to create such an appendix, but I volunteer
to be a proofreader.

An appendix for a reference of these tasks seems like a good idea.

FYI, you may already have seen it but we have a bit of coverage for the
common>
tasks in the following section of the manual:
http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/current/ref-manual/ref-manual.html#clo
ser-look

This section seems to be a more polished version of the mega manual
Sections 5.3.4 to 5.3.11.

They should be identical. The mega manual is simply the other manuals combined
together...

It provides an overview to the build process, but its still at a very high
level (few details).

Could you expand on the details are you looking for that you're not finding
there?

I was looking for more detailed information because I was trying to trouble shoot failures that occurred during the "do_fetch" of some source.
The most common failure was the inability to access any of the servers that contained the source. This was probably due to those servers being temporarily down for maintenance. Simply restarting the bitbake fixed those problems.
(A common failure that users should be told not to be concerned about. I did read that somewhere, but I don't remember where.)

The next problem was a recipe error effecting "do_install" of some recipe. I troubleshot this and got a fix from the Angstrom people. while troubleshooting (doing lots of double Control-Cs), I believe that I hung the "do_fetch" mechanism. (some "do_fetch" tasks were being executed in parallel with the broken "do_install"). After the "do_install" problem was fixed, "do_fetch" seemed to run, but didn't transfer any data (no network traffic), and it would eventually time out.

That raised the question regarding the use of lock files. (Did my Control-Cs leave a Yocto lock file intact that needed to be cleaned up? Did "do_fetch" use any locking mechanism? How could I do a partial "clean" that would fix the problem without setting my progress back further than necessary?)

During my search for info, I found e-mail discussions of clean, cleanstate, and cleanall. My "do_fetch" failure was occurring at about step 6900 of 8100 build steps. With my internet connection, restarting would have set me back 48 hrs, with no guarantee that the restart would result in a fix. I was looking for ways to "clean" the condition without having to completely start over. Eventually, I gave up and did the cleanall... it did not fix the problem.
Even though none of cleanxxx tasks worked for me in fixing the "do_fetch" hang, info about them should have been easier to find.

I fixed the problem with a shotgun approach.
I erased the entire Yocto build directory, rebooted my host build system, and power cycled my network router and DSL modem. This worked, but was probably more than I needed to do. (I now think that my "do_fetch" hang was do to not properly reinitializing a firewall port.)

My searches also led me to the "do_fetchall" task, as I has just visited with a friend whose network connection was 10x better than mine. Had I know about fetchall, I would have used it during the visit.

In general, the appendix should contain a description of the program logic of the task, the task's intended use, and a discussion of common errors (and fixes) that can occur during execution of the task.

The most probable readers of the appendix would be:
* someone trying to troubleshoot a problem that is occuring during the task.
* someone who saw an e-mail reference for a use for the task and wants to understand it better.

Regards,
Bob

If we wanted to add an appendix to list them all (and it might be worth us
doing so) a good starting point would be the task descriptions in

documentation.conf:
http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/conf/documenta
tion.conf

This file at least provides one sentence on most tasks. (do_setscene is
missing, maybe more).

do_setscene itself isn't a task that we have. Setscene equivalents exist for
all of the sstate-enabled tasks that we have i.e. do_populate_sysroot_setscene
is the setscene equivalent of do_populate_sysroot. We should touch on it
elsewhere as well, but FYI we do have an explanation of the setscene process in
the BitBake manual:

http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/1.6/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual.html#setscene

Cheers,
Paul