You're reading from Mastering Embedded Linux Programming Create fast and reliable embedded solutions with Linux 5.4 and the Yocto Project 3.1 (Dunfell)

Product type Paperback

Published in May 2021

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781789530384

Length 758 pages

Edition 3rd Edition

Languages

C++

Tools

Linux

Concepts

Embedded Systems

Authors (2):

Frank Vasquez

Mr. Chris Simmonds

View More author details

Table of Contents (27) Chapters

Preface

1. Section 1: Elements of Embedded Linux

2. Chapter 1: Starting Out FREE CHAPTER

3. Chapter 2: Learning about Toolchains

4. Chapter 3: All about Bootloaders

5. Chapter 4: Configuring and Building the Kernel

6. Chapter 5: Building a Root Filesystem

7. Chapter 6: Selecting a Build System

8. Chapter 7: Developing with Yocto

9. Chapter 8: Yocto Under the Hood

10. Section 2: System Architecture and Design Decisions

11. Chapter 9: Creating a Storage Strategy

12. Chapter 10: Updating Software in the Field

13. Chapter 11: Interfacing with Device Drivers

14. Chapter 12: Prototyping with Breakout Boards

15. Chapter 13: Starting Up – The init Program

16. Chapter 14: Starting with BusyBox runit

17. Chapter 15: Managing Power

18. Section 3: Writing Embedded Applications

19. Chapter 16: Packaging Python

20. Chapter 17: Learning about Processes and Threads

21. Chapter 18: Managing Memory

22. Section 4: Debugging and Optimizing Performance

23. Chapter 19: Debugging with GDB

24. Chapter 20: Profiling and Tracing

25. Chapter 21: Real-Time Programming

26. Other Books You May Enjoy

Understanding BitBake syntax and semantics

BitBake is a task runner. It is similar to GNU make in that respect, except that it operates on recipes instead of makefiles. The metadata in these recipes defines tasks in shell and Python. BitBake itself is written in Python. The OpenEmbedded project that Yocto is based on consists of BitBake and a large collection of recipes for building embedded Linux distributions. BitBake's power lies in its ability to run tasks in parallel while still satisfying inter-task dependencies. Its layered and inheritance-based approach to metadata enables Yocto to scale in ways Buildroot-based build systems simply cannot.

In Chapter 6, Selecting a Build System, we learned about the five types of BitBake metadata files; that is, .bb, .bbappend, .inc, .bbclass, and .conf. We also wrote BitBake recipes for building a basic helloworld program and nova-image image. Now, we will look more closely at the contents of BitBake metadata files. We know that tasks...