xref: /openbmc/u-boot/tools/buildman/README (revision ed85f771)
1# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
2# Copyright (c) 2013 The Chromium OS Authors.
3
4(Please read 'How to change from MAKEALL' if you are used to that tool)
5
6Quick-start
7===========
8
9If you just want to quickly set up buildman so you can build something (for
10example Raspberry Pi 2):
11
12   cd /path/to/u-boot
13   PATH=$PATH:`pwd`/tools/buildman
14   buildman --fetch-arch arm
15   buildman -k rpi_2
16   ls ../current/rpi_2
17   # u-boot.bin is the output image
18
19
20What is this?
21=============
22
23This tool handles building U-Boot to check that you have not broken it
24with your patch series. It can build each individual commit and report
25which boards fail on which commits, and which errors come up. It aims
26to make full use of multi-processor machines.
27
28A key feature of buildman is its output summary, which allows warnings,
29errors or image size increases in a particular commit or board to be
30quickly identified and the offending commit pinpointed. This can be a big
31help for anyone working with >10 patches at a time.
32
33
34Caveats
35=======
36
37Buildman can be stopped and restarted, in which case it will continue
38where it left off. This should happen cleanly and without side-effects.
39If not, it is a bug, for which a patch would be welcome.
40
41Buildman gets so tied up in its work that it can ignore the outside world.
42You may need to press Ctrl-C several times to quit it. Also it will print
43out various exceptions when stopped. You may have to kill it since the
44Ctrl-C handling is somewhat broken.
45
46
47Theory of Operation
48===================
49
50(please read this section in full twice or you will be perpetually confused)
51
52Buildman is a builder. It is not make, although it runs make. It does not
53produce any useful output on the terminal while building, except for
54progress information (except with -v, see below). All the output (errors,
55warnings and binaries if you ask for them) is stored in output
56directories, which you can look at while the build is progressing, or when
57it is finished.
58
59Buildman is designed to build entire git branches, i.e. muliple commits. It
60can be run repeatedly on the same branch. In this case it will automatically
61rebuild commits which have changed (and remove its old results for that
62commit). It is possible to build a branch for one board, then later build it
63for another board. If you want buildman to re-build a commit it has already
64built (e.g. because of a toolchain update), use the -f flag.
65
66Buildman produces a concise summary of which boards succeeded and failed.
67It shows which commit introduced which board failure using a simple
68red/green colour coding. Full error information can be requested, in which
69case it is de-duped and displayed against the commit that introduced the
70error. An example workflow is below.
71
72Buildman stores image size information and can report changes in image size
73from commit to commit. An example of this is below.
74
75Buildman starts multiple threads, and each thread builds for one board at
76a time. A thread starts at the first commit, configures the source for your
77board and builds it. Then it checks out the next commit and does an
78incremental build. Eventually the thread reaches the last commit and stops.
79If errors or warnings are found along the way, the thread will reconfigure
80after every commit, and your build will be very slow. This is because a
81file that produces just a warning would not normally be rebuilt in an
82incremental build.
83
84Buildman works in an entirely separate place from your U-Boot repository.
85It creates a separate working directory for each thread, and puts the
86output files in the working directory, organised by commit name and board
87name, in a two-level hierarchy.
88
89Buildman is invoked in your U-Boot directory, the one with the .git
90directory. It clones this repository into a copy for each thread, and the
91threads do not affect the state of your git repository. Any checkouts done
92by the thread affect only the working directory for that thread.
93
94Buildman automatically selects the correct tool chain for each board. You
95must supply suitable tool chains, but buildman takes care of selecting the
96right one.
97
98Buildman generally builds a branch (with the -b flag), and in this case
99builds the upstream commit as well, for comparison. It cannot build
100individual commits at present, unless (maybe) you point it at an empty
101branch. Put all your commits in a branch, set the branch's upstream to a
102valid value, and all will be well. Otherwise buildman will perform random
103actions. Use -n to check what the random actions might be.
104
105If you just want to build the current source tree, leave off the -b flag
106and add -e. This will display results and errors as they happen. You can
107still look at them later using -se. Note that buildman will assume that the
108source has changed, and will build all specified boards in this case.
109
110Buildman is optimised for building many commits at once, for many boards.
111On multi-core machines, Buildman is fast because it uses most of the
112available CPU power. When it gets to the end, or if you are building just
113a few commits or boards, it will be pretty slow. As a tip, if you don't
114plan to use your machine for anything else, you can use -T to increase the
115number of threads beyond the default.
116
117Buildman lets you build all boards, or a subset. Specify the subset by passing
118command-line arguments that list the desired board name, architecture name,
119SOC name, or anything else in the boards.cfg file. Multiple arguments are
120allowed. Each argument will be interpreted as a regular expression, so
121behaviour is a superset of exact or substring matching. Examples are:
122
123* 'tegra20'      All boards with a Tegra20 SoC
124* 'tegra'        All boards with any Tegra Soc (Tegra20, Tegra30, Tegra114...)
125* '^tegra[23]0$' All boards with either Tegra20 or Tegra30 SoC
126* 'powerpc'      All PowerPC boards
127
128While the default is to OR the terms together, you can also make use of
129the '&' operator to limit the selection:
130
131* 'freescale & arm sandbox'  All Freescale boards with ARM architecture,
132                             plus sandbox
133
134You can also use -x to specifically exclude some boards. For example:
135
136 buildmand arm -x nvidia,freescale,.*ball$
137
138means to build all arm boards except nvidia, freescale and anything ending
139with 'ball'.
140
141It is convenient to use the -n option to see what will be built based on
142the subset given. Use -v as well to get an actual list of boards.
143
144Buildman does not store intermediate object files. It optionally copies
145the binary output into a directory when a build is successful. Size
146information is always recorded. It needs a fair bit of disk space to work,
147typically 250MB per thread.
148
149
150Setting up
151==========
152
1531. Get the U-Boot source. You probably already have it, but if not these
154steps should get you started with a repo and some commits for testing.
155
156$ cd /path/to/u-boot
157$ git clone git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git .
158$ git checkout -b my-branch origin/master
159$ # Add some commits to the branch, reading for testing
160
1612. Create ~/.buildman to tell buildman where to find tool chains (see 'The
162.buildman file' later for details). As an example:
163
164# Buildman settings file
165
166[toolchain]
167root: /
168rest: /toolchains/*
169eldk: /opt/eldk-4.2
170arm: /opt/linaro/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-4.8-2013.08_linux
171aarch64: /opt/linaro/gcc-linaro-aarch64-none-elf-4.8-2013.10_linux
172
173[toolchain-alias]
174x86: i386
175blackfin: bfin
176nds32: nds32le
177openrisc: or1k
178
179
180This selects the available toolchain paths. Add the base directory for
181each of your toolchains here. Buildman will search inside these directories
182and also in any '/usr' and '/usr/bin' subdirectories.
183
184Make sure the tags (here root: rest: and eldk:) are unique.
185
186The toolchain-alias section indicates that the i386 toolchain should be used
187to build x86 commits.
188
189Note that you can also specific exactly toolchain prefixes if you like:
190
191[toolchain-prefix]
192arm: /opt/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi-
193
194or even:
195
196[toolchain-prefix]
197arm: /opt/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi-gcc
198
199This tells buildman that you want to use this exact toolchain for the arm
200architecture. This will override any toolchains found by searching using the
201[toolchain] settings.
202
203Since the toolchain prefix is an explicit request, buildman will report an
204error if a toolchain is not found with that prefix. The current PATH will be
205searched, so it is possible to use:
206
207[toolchain-prefix]
208arm: arm-none-eabi-
209
210and buildman will find arm-none-eabi-gcc in /usr/bin if you have it installed.
211
212[toolchain-wrapper]
213wrapper: ccache
214
215This tells buildman to use a compiler wrapper in front of CROSS_COMPILE. In
216this example, ccache. It doesn't affect the toolchain scan. The wrapper is
217added when CROSS_COMPILE environtal variable is set. The name in this
218section is ignored. If more than one line is provided, only the last one
219is taken.
220
2213. Make sure you have the require Python pre-requisites
222
223Buildman uses multiprocessing, Queue, shutil, StringIO, ConfigParser and
224urllib2. These should normally be available, but if you get an error like
225this then you will need to obtain those modules:
226
227    ImportError: No module named multiprocessing
228
229
2304. Check the available toolchains
231
232Run this check to make sure that you have a toolchain for every architecture.
233
234$ ./tools/buildman/buildman --list-tool-chains
235Scanning for tool chains
236   - scanning prefix '/opt/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-'
237Tool chain test:  OK, arch='x86', priority 1
238   - scanning prefix '/opt/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi-'
239Tool chain test:  OK, arch='arm', priority 1
240   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux'
241      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux/.'
242      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux/bin'
243         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux/bin/i386-linux-gcc'
244      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux/usr/bin'
245Tool chain test:  OK, arch='i386', priority 4
246   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux'
247      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux/.'
248      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux/bin'
249         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux/bin/aarch64-linux-gcc'
250      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux/usr/bin'
251Tool chain test:  OK, arch='aarch64', priority 4
252   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux'
253      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux/.'
254      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux/bin'
255         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux/bin/microblaze-linux-gcc'
256      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux/usr/bin'
257Tool chain test:  OK, arch='microblaze', priority 4
258   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux'
259      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux/.'
260      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux/bin'
261         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux/bin/mips64-linux-gcc'
262      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux/usr/bin'
263Tool chain test:  OK, arch='mips64', priority 4
264   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux'
265      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux/.'
266      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux/bin'
267         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux/bin/sparc64-linux-gcc'
268      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux/usr/bin'
269Tool chain test:  OK, arch='sparc64', priority 4
270   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi'
271      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi/.'
272      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi/bin'
273         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi-gcc'
274      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi/usr/bin'
275Tool chain test:  OK, arch='arm', priority 3
276Toolchain '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi-gcc' at priority 3 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'arm' has priority 1
277   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux'
278      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux/.'
279      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin'
280         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin/sparc-linux-gcc'
281      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux/usr/bin'
282Tool chain test:  OK, arch='sparc', priority 4
283   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux'
284      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux/.'
285      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux/bin'
286         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux/bin/mips-linux-gcc'
287      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux/usr/bin'
288Tool chain test:  OK, arch='mips', priority 4
289   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux'
290      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/.'
291      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin'
292         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-gcc'
293         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-x86_64-linux-gcc'
294      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/usr/bin'
295Tool chain test:  OK, arch='x86_64', priority 4
296Tool chain test:  OK, arch='x86_64', priority 4
297Toolchain '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-x86_64-linux-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'x86_64' has priority 4
298   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux'
299      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux/.'
300      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin'
301         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin/m68k-linux-gcc'
302      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux/usr/bin'
303Tool chain test:  OK, arch='m68k', priority 4
304   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux'
305      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux/.'
306      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux/bin'
307         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux/bin/powerpc-linux-gcc'
308      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux/usr/bin'
309Tool chain test:  OK, arch='powerpc', priority 4
310   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux'
311      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux/.'
312      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux/bin'
313         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux/bin/bfin-uclinux-gcc'
314      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux/usr/bin'
315Tool chain test:  OK, arch='bfin', priority 6
316   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux'
317      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux/.'
318      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin'
319         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin/sparc-linux-gcc'
320      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux/usr/bin'
321Tool chain test:  OK, arch='sparc', priority 4
322Toolchain '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin/sparc-linux-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'sparc' has priority 4
323   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux'
324      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux/.'
325      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux/bin'
326         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux/bin/mips-linux-gcc'
327      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux/usr/bin'
328Tool chain test:  OK, arch='mips', priority 4
329Toolchain '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/mips-linux/bin/mips-linux-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'mips' has priority 4
330   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux'
331      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux/.'
332      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin'
333         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin/m68k-linux-gcc'
334      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux/usr/bin'
335Tool chain test:  OK, arch='m68k', priority 4
336Toolchain '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin/m68k-linux-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'm68k' has priority 4
337   - scanning path '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/powerpc-linux'
338      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/powerpc-linux/.'
339      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/powerpc-linux/bin'
340         - found '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/powerpc-linux/bin/powerpc-linux-gcc'
341      - looking in '/toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/powerpc-linux/usr/bin'
342Tool chain test:  OK, arch='powerpc', priority 4
343Tool chain test:  OK, arch='or32', priority 4
344   - scanning path '/'
345      - looking in '/.'
346      - looking in '/bin'
347      - looking in '/usr/bin'
348         - found '/usr/bin/i586-mingw32msvc-gcc'
349         - found '/usr/bin/c89-gcc'
350         - found '/usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc'
351         - found '/usr/bin/gcc'
352         - found '/usr/bin/c99-gcc'
353         - found '/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc'
354         - found '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc'
355         - found '/usr/bin/winegcc'
356         - found '/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc'
357Tool chain test:  OK, arch='i586', priority 11
358Tool chain test:  OK, arch='c89', priority 11
359Tool chain test:  OK, arch='x86_64', priority 4
360Toolchain '/usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'x86_64' has priority 4
361Tool chain test:  OK, arch='sandbox', priority 11
362Tool chain test:  OK, arch='c99', priority 11
363Tool chain test:  OK, arch='arm', priority 4
364Toolchain '/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'arm' has priority 1
365Tool chain test:  OK, arch='aarch64', priority 4
366Toolchain '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'aarch64' has priority 4
367Tool chain test:  OK, arch='sandbox', priority 11
368Toolchain '/usr/bin/winegcc' at priority 11 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'sandbox' has priority 11
369Tool chain test:  OK, arch='arm', priority 4
370Toolchain '/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc' at priority 4 will be ignored because another toolchain for arch 'arm' has priority 1
371List of available toolchains (34):
372aarch64   : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/aarch64-linux/bin/aarch64-linux-gcc
373alpha     : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/alpha-linux/bin/alpha-linux-gcc
374am33_2.0  : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/am33_2.0-linux/bin/am33_2.0-linux-gcc
375arm       : /opt/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi-gcc
376bfin      : /toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/bfin-uclinux/bin/bfin-uclinux-gcc
377c89       : /usr/bin/c89-gcc
378c99       : /usr/bin/c99-gcc
379frv       : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/frv-linux/bin/frv-linux-gcc
380h8300     : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/h8300-elf/bin/h8300-elf-gcc
381hppa      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/hppa-linux/bin/hppa-linux-gcc
382hppa64    : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/hppa64-linux/bin/hppa64-linux-gcc
383i386      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/i386-linux/bin/i386-linux-gcc
384i586      : /usr/bin/i586-mingw32msvc-gcc
385ia64      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/ia64-linux/bin/ia64-linux-gcc
386m32r      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m32r-linux/bin/m32r-linux-gcc
387m68k      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/m68k-linux/bin/m68k-linux-gcc
388microblaze: /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/microblaze-linux/bin/microblaze-linux-gcc
389mips      : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips-linux/bin/mips-linux-gcc
390mips64    : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/mips64-linux/bin/mips64-linux-gcc
391or32      : /toolchains/gcc-4.5.1-nolibc/or32-linux/bin/or32-linux-gcc
392powerpc   : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc-linux/bin/powerpc-linux-gcc
393powerpc64 : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/powerpc64-linux/bin/powerpc64-linux-gcc
394ppc64le   : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/ppc64le-linux/bin/ppc64le-linux-gcc
395s390x     : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/s390x-linux/bin/s390x-linux-gcc
396sandbox   : /usr/bin/gcc
397sh4       : /toolchains/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/sh4-linux/bin/sh4-linux-gcc
398sparc     : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc-linux/bin/sparc-linux-gcc
399sparc64   : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/sparc64-linux/bin/sparc64-linux-gcc
400tilegx    : /toolchains/gcc-4.6.2-nolibc/tilegx-linux/bin/tilegx-linux-gcc
401x86       : /opt/gcc-4.6.3-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-gcc
402x86_64    : /toolchains/gcc-4.9.0-nolibc/x86_64-linux/bin/x86_64-linux-gcc
403
404
405You can see that everything is covered, even some strange ones that won't
406be used (c88 and c99). This is a feature.
407
408
4095. Install new toolchains if needed
410
411You can download toolchains and update the [toolchain] section of the
412settings file to find them.
413
414To make this easier, buildman can automatically download and install
415toolchains from kernel.org. First list the available architectures:
416
417$ ./tools/buildman/buildman --fetch-arch list
418Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.6.3/
419Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.6.2/
420Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.5.1/
421Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.2.4/
422Available architectures: alpha am33_2.0 arm bfin cris crisv32 frv h8300
423hppa hppa64 i386 ia64 m32r m68k mips mips64 or32 powerpc powerpc64 s390x sh4
424sparc sparc64 tilegx x86_64 xtensa
425
426Then pick one and download it:
427
428$ ./tools/buildman/buildman --fetch-arch or32
429Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.6.3/
430Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.6.2/
431Checking: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.5.1/
432Downloading: https://www.kernel.org/pub/tools/crosstool/files/bin/x86_64/4.5.1//x86_64-gcc-4.5.1-nolibc_or32-linux.tar.xz
433Unpacking to: /home/sjg/.buildman-toolchains
434Testing
435      - looking in '/home/sjg/.buildman-toolchains/gcc-4.5.1-nolibc/or32-linux/.'
436      - looking in '/home/sjg/.buildman-toolchains/gcc-4.5.1-nolibc/or32-linux/bin'
437         - found '/home/sjg/.buildman-toolchains/gcc-4.5.1-nolibc/or32-linux/bin/or32-linux-gcc'
438Tool chain test:  OK
439
440Or download them all from kernel.org and move them to /toolchains directory,
441
442$ ./tools/buildman/buildman --fetch-arch all
443$ sudo mkdir -p /toolchains
444$ sudo mv ~/.buildman-toolchains/*/* /toolchains/
445
446For those not available from kernel.org, download from the following links.
447
448arc: https://github.com/foss-for-synopsys-dwc-arc-processors/toolchain/releases/
449    download/arc-2016.09-release/arc_gnu_2016.09_prebuilt_uclibc_le_archs_linux_install.tar.gz
450blackfin: http://sourceforge.net/projects/adi-toolchain/files/
451    blackfin-toolchain-elf-gcc-4.5-2014R1_45-RC2.x86_64.tar.bz2
452nds32: http://osdk.andestech.com/packages/
453    nds32le-linux-glibc-v1.tgz
454nios2: http://sourcery.mentor.com/public/gnu_toolchain/nios2-linux-gnu/
455    sourceryg++-2015.11-27-nios2-linux-gnu-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.bz2
456sh: http://sourcery.mentor.com/public/gnu_toolchain/sh-linux-gnu/
457    renesas-4.4-200-sh-linux-gnu-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.bz2
458
459Note openrisc kernel.org toolchain is out of date. Download the latest one from
460http://opencores.org/or1k/OpenRISC_GNU_tool_chain#Prebuilt_versions - eg:
461ftp://ocuser:ocuser@openrisc.opencores.org/toolchain/gcc-or1k-elf-4.8.1-x86.tar.bz2.
462
463Buildman should now be set up to use your new toolchain.
464
465At the time of writing, U-Boot has these architectures:
466
467   arc, arm, blackfin, m68k, microblaze, mips, nds32, nios2, openrisc
468   powerpc, sandbox, sh, sparc, x86
469
470Of these, only arc and nds32 are not available at kernel.org..
471
472
473How to run it
474=============
475
476First do a dry run using the -n flag: (replace <branch> with a real, local
477branch with a valid upstream)
478
479$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b <branch> -n
480
481If it can't detect the upstream branch, try checking out the branch, and
482doing something like 'git branch --set-upstream-to upstream/master'
483or something similar. Buildman will try to guess a suitable upstream branch
484if it can't find one (you will see a message like" Guessing upstream as ...).
485
486As an example:
487
488Dry run, so not doing much. But I would do this:
489
490Building 18 commits for 1059 boards (4 threads, 1 job per thread)
491Build directory: ../lcd9b
492    5bb3505 Merge branch 'master' of git://git.denx.de/u-boot-arm
493    c18f1b4 tegra: Use const for pinmux_config_pingroup/table()
494    2f043ae tegra: Add display support to funcmux
495    e349900 tegra: fdt: Add pwm binding and node
496    424a5f0 tegra: fdt: Add LCD definitions for Tegra
497    0636ccf tegra: Add support for PWM
498    a994fe7 tegra: Add SOC support for display/lcd
499    fcd7350 tegra: Add LCD driver
500    4d46e9d tegra: Add LCD support to Nvidia boards
501    991bd48 arm: Add control over cachability of memory regions
502    54e8019 lcd: Add CONFIG_LCD_ALIGNMENT to select frame buffer alignment
503    d92aff7 lcd: Add support for flushing LCD fb from dcache after update
504    dbd0677 tegra: Align LCD frame buffer to section boundary
505    0cff9b8 tegra: Support control of cache settings for LCD
506    9c56900 tegra: fdt: Add LCD definitions for Seaboard
507    5cc29db lcd: Add CONFIG_CONSOLE_SCROLL_LINES option to speed console
508    cac5a23 tegra: Enable display/lcd support on Seaboard
509    49ff541 wip
510
511Total boards to build for each commit: 1059
512
513This shows that it will build all 1059 boards, using 4 threads (because
514we have a 4-core CPU). Each thread will run with -j1, meaning that each
515make job will use a single CPU. The list of commits to be built helps you
516confirm that things look about right. Notice that buildman has chosen a
517'base' directory for you, immediately above your source tree.
518
519Buildman works entirely inside the base directory, here ../lcd9b,
520creating a working directory for each thread, and creating output
521directories for each commit and board.
522
523
524Suggested Workflow
525==================
526
527To run the build for real, take off the -n:
528
529$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b <branch>
530
531Buildman will set up some working directories, and get started. After a
532minute or so it will settle down to a steady pace, with a display like this:
533
534Building 18 commits for 1059 boards (4 threads, 1 job per thread)
535  528   36  124 /19062  1:13:30  : SIMPC8313_SP
536
537This means that it is building 19062 board/commit combinations. So far it
538has managed to successfully build 528. Another 36 have built with warnings,
539and 124 more didn't build at all. Buildman expects to complete the process
540in around an hour and a quarter. Use this time to buy a faster computer.
541
542
543To find out how the build went, ask for a summary with -s. You can do this
544either before the build completes (presumably in another terminal) or
545afterwards. Let's work through an example of how this is used:
546
547$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b lcd9b -s
548...
54901: Merge branch 'master' of git://git.denx.de/u-boot-arm
550   powerpc:   + galaxy5200_LOWBOOT
55102: tegra: Use const for pinmux_config_pingroup/table()
55203: tegra: Add display support to funcmux
55304: tegra: fdt: Add pwm binding and node
55405: tegra: fdt: Add LCD definitions for Tegra
55506: tegra: Add support for PWM
55607: tegra: Add SOC support for display/lcd
55708: tegra: Add LCD driver
55809: tegra: Add LCD support to Nvidia boards
55910: arm: Add control over cachability of memory regions
56011: lcd: Add CONFIG_LCD_ALIGNMENT to select frame buffer alignment
56112: lcd: Add support for flushing LCD fb from dcache after update
562       arm:   + lubbock
56313: tegra: Align LCD frame buffer to section boundary
56414: tegra: Support control of cache settings for LCD
56515: tegra: fdt: Add LCD definitions for Seaboard
56616: lcd: Add CONFIG_CONSOLE_SCROLL_LINES option to speed console
56717: tegra: Enable display/lcd support on Seaboard
56818: wip
569
570This shows which commits have succeeded and which have failed. In this case
571the build is still in progress so many boards are not built yet (use -u to
572see which ones). But still we can see a few failures. The galaxy5200_LOWBOOT
573never builds correctly. This could be a problem with our toolchain, or it
574could be a bug in the upstream. The good news is that we probably don't need
575to blame our commits. The bad news is that our commits are not tested on that
576board.
577
578Commit 12 broke lubbock. That's what the '+ lubbock' means. The failure
579is never fixed by a later commit, or you would see lubbock again, in green,
580without the +.
581
582To see the actual error:
583
584$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b <branch> -se lubbock
585...
58612: lcd: Add support for flushing LCD fb from dcache after update
587       arm:   + lubbock
588+common/libcommon.o: In function `lcd_sync':
589+/u-boot/lcd9b/.bm-work/00/common/lcd.c:120: undefined reference to `flush_dcache_range'
590+arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ld: BFD (Sourcery G++ Lite 2010q1-202) 2.19.51.20090709 assertion fail /scratch/julian/2010q1-release-linux-lite/obj/binutils-src-2010q1-202-arm-none-linux-gnueabi-i686-pc-linux-gnu/bfd/elf32-arm.c:12572
591+make: *** [/u-boot/lcd9b/.bm-work/00/build/u-boot] Error 139
59213: tegra: Align LCD frame buffer to section boundary
59314: tegra: Support control of cache settings for LCD
59415: tegra: fdt: Add LCD definitions for Seaboard
59516: lcd: Add CONFIG_CONSOLE_SCROLL_LINES option to speed console
596-/u-boot/lcd9b/.bm-work/00/common/lcd.c:120: undefined reference to `flush_dcache_range'
597+/u-boot/lcd9b/.bm-work/00/common/lcd.c:125: undefined reference to `flush_dcache_range'
59817: tegra: Enable display/lcd support on Seaboard
59918: wip
600
601So the problem is in lcd.c, due to missing cache operations. This information
602should be enough to work out what that commit is doing to break these
603boards. (In this case pxa did not have cache operations defined).
604
605If you see error lines marked with '-', that means that the errors were fixed
606by that commit. Sometimes commits can be in the wrong order, so that a
607breakage is introduced for a few commits and fixed by later commits. This
608shows up clearly with buildman. You can then reorder the commits and try
609again.
610
611At commit 16, the error moves: you can see that the old error at line 120
612is fixed, but there is a new one at line 126. This is probably only because
613we added some code and moved the broken line further down the file.
614
615If many boards have the same error, then -e will display the error only
616once. This makes the output as concise as possible. To see which boards have
617each error, use -l. So it is safe to omit the board name - you will not get
618lots of repeated output for every board.
619
620Buildman tries to distinguish warnings from errors, and shows warning lines
621separately with a 'w' prefix.
622
623The full build output in this case is available in:
624
625../lcd9b/12_of_18_gd92aff7_lcd--Add-support-for/lubbock/
626
627   done: Indicates the build was done, and holds the return code from make.
628         This is 0 for a good build, typically 2 for a failure.
629
630   err:  Output from stderr, if any. Errors and warnings appear here.
631
632   log:  Output from stdout. Normally there isn't any since buildman runs
633         in silent mode. Use -V to force a verbose build (this passes V=1
634         to 'make')
635
636   toolchain: Shows information about the toolchain used for the build.
637
638   sizes: Shows image size information.
639
640It is possible to get the build binary output there also. Use the -k option
641for this. In that case you will also see some output files, like:
642
643   System.map  toolchain  u-boot  u-boot.bin  u-boot.map  autoconf.mk
644   (also SPL versions u-boot-spl and u-boot-spl.bin if available)
645
646
647Checking Image Sizes
648====================
649
650A key requirement for U-Boot is that you keep code/data size to a minimum.
651Where a new feature increases this noticeably it should normally be put
652behind a CONFIG flag so that boards can leave it disabled and keep the image
653size more or less the same with each new release.
654
655To check the impact of your commits on image size, use -S. For example:
656
657$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b us-x86 -sS
658Summary of 10 commits for 1066 boards (4 threads, 1 job per thread)
65901: MAKEALL: add support for per architecture toolchains
66002: x86: Add function to get top of usable ram
661       x86: (for 1/3 boards)  text -272.0  rodata +41.0
66203: x86: Add basic cache operations
66304: x86: Permit bootstage and timer data to be used prior to relocation
664       x86: (for 1/3 boards)  data +16.0
66505: x86: Add an __end symbol to signal the end of the U-Boot binary
666       x86: (for 1/3 boards)  text +76.0
66706: x86: Rearrange the output input to remove BSS
668       x86: (for 1/3 boards)  bss -2140.0
66907: x86: Support relocation of FDT on start-up
670       x86: +   coreboot-x86
67108: x86: Add error checking to x86 relocation code
67209: x86: Adjust link device tree include file
67310: x86: Enable CONFIG_OF_CONTROL on coreboot
674
675
676You can see that image size only changed on x86, which is good because this
677series is not supposed to change any other board. From commit 7 onwards the
678build fails so we don't get code size numbers. The numbers are fractional
679because they are an average of all boards for that architecture. The
680intention is to allow you to quickly find image size problems introduced by
681your commits.
682
683Note that the 'text' region and 'rodata' are split out. You should add the
684two together to get the total read-only size (reported as the first column
685in the output from binutil's 'size' utility).
686
687A useful option is --step which lets you skip some commits. For example
688--step 2 will show the image sizes for only every 2nd commit (so it will
689compare the image sizes of the 1st, 3rd, 5th... commits). You can also use
690--step 0 which will compare only the first and last commits. This is useful
691for an overview of how your entire series affects code size. It will build
692only the upstream commit and your final branch commit.
693
694You can also use -d to see a detailed size breakdown for each board. This
695list is sorted in order from largest growth to largest reduction.
696
697It is even possible to go a little further with the -B option (--bloat). This
698shows where U-Boot has bloated, breaking the size change down to the function
699level. Example output is below:
700
701$ ./tools/buildman/buildman -b us-mem4 -sSdB
702...
70319: Roll crc32 into hash infrastructure
704       arm: (for 10/10 boards)  all -143.4  bss +1.2  data -4.8  rodata -48.2 text -91.6
705            paz00          :  all +23  bss -4  rodata -29  text +56
706               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 3/-2 bytes: 168/-104 (64)
707                 function                                   old     new   delta
708                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
709                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
710                 ext4fs_read_file                           540     568     +28
711                 insert_var_value_sub                       688     692      +4
712                 run_list_real                             1996    1992      -4
713                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
714            trimslice      :  all -9  bss +16  rodata -29  text +4
715               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 1/-3 bytes: 136/-124 (12)
716                 function                                   old     new   delta
717                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
718                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
719                 ext4fs_iterate_dir                         672     668      -4
720                 ext4fs_read_file                           568     548     -20
721                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
722            whistler       :  all -9  bss +16  rodata -29  text +4
723               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 1/-3 bytes: 136/-124 (12)
724                 function                                   old     new   delta
725                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
726                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
727                 ext4fs_iterate_dir                         672     668      -4
728                 ext4fs_read_file                           568     548     -20
729                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
730            seaboard       :  all -9  bss -28  rodata -29  text +48
731               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 3/-2 bytes: 160/-104 (56)
732                 function                                   old     new   delta
733                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
734                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
735                 ext4fs_read_file                           548     568     +20
736                 run_list_real                             1996    2000      +4
737                 do_nandboot                                760     756      -4
738                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
739            colibri_t20    :  all -9  rodata -29  text +20
740               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 2/-3 bytes: 140/-112 (28)
741                 function                                   old     new   delta
742                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
743                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
744                 read_abs_bbt                               204     208      +4
745                 do_nandboot                                760     756      -4
746                 ext4fs_read_file                           576     568      -8
747                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
748            ventana        :  all -37  bss -12  rodata -29  text +4
749               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 1/-3 bytes: 136/-124 (12)
750                 function                                   old     new   delta
751                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
752                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
753                 ext4fs_iterate_dir                         672     668      -4
754                 ext4fs_read_file                           568     548     -20
755                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
756            harmony        :  all -37  bss -16  rodata -29  text +8
757               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 2/-3 bytes: 140/-124 (16)
758                 function                                   old     new   delta
759                 hash_command                                80     160     +80
760                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
761                 nand_write_oob_syndrome                    428     432      +4
762                 ext4fs_iterate_dir                         672     668      -4
763                 ext4fs_read_file                           568     548     -20
764                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
765            medcom-wide    :  all -417  bss +28  data -16  rodata -93  text -336
766               u-boot: add: 1/-1, grow: 1/-2 bytes: 88/-376 (-288)
767                 function                                   old     new   delta
768                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
769                 do_fat_read_at                            2872    2904     +32
770                 hash_algo                                   16       -     -16
771                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
772                 hash_command                               420     160    -260
773            tec            :  all -449  bss -4  data -16  rodata -93  text -336
774               u-boot: add: 1/-1, grow: 1/-2 bytes: 88/-376 (-288)
775                 function                                   old     new   delta
776                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
777                 do_fat_read_at                            2872    2904     +32
778                 hash_algo                                   16       -     -16
779                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
780                 hash_command                               420     160    -260
781            plutux         :  all -481  bss +16  data -16  rodata -93  text -388
782               u-boot: add: 1/-1, grow: 1/-3 bytes: 68/-408 (-340)
783                 function                                   old     new   delta
784                 crc32_wd_buf                                 -      56     +56
785                 do_load_serial_bin                        1688    1700     +12
786                 hash_algo                                   16       -     -16
787                 do_fat_read_at                            2904    2872     -32
788                 do_mem_crc                                 168      68    -100
789                 hash_command                               420     160    -260
790   powerpc: (for 5/5 boards)  all +37.4  data -3.2  rodata -41.8  text +82.4
791            MPC8610HPCD    :  all +55  rodata -29  text +84
792               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 0/-1 bytes: 176/-96 (80)
793                 function                                   old     new   delta
794                 hash_command                                 -     176    +176
795                 do_mem_crc                                 184      88     -96
796            MPC8641HPCN    :  all +55  rodata -29  text +84
797               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 0/-1 bytes: 176/-96 (80)
798                 function                                   old     new   delta
799                 hash_command                                 -     176    +176
800                 do_mem_crc                                 184      88     -96
801            MPC8641HPCN_36BIT:  all +55  rodata -29  text +84
802               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 0/-1 bytes: 176/-96 (80)
803                 function                                   old     new   delta
804                 hash_command                                 -     176    +176
805                 do_mem_crc                                 184      88     -96
806            sbc8641d       :  all +55  rodata -29  text +84
807               u-boot: add: 1/0, grow: 0/-1 bytes: 176/-96 (80)
808                 function                                   old     new   delta
809                 hash_command                                 -     176    +176
810                 do_mem_crc                                 184      88     -96
811            xpedite517x    :  all -33  data -16  rodata -93  text +76
812               u-boot: add: 1/-1, grow: 0/-1 bytes: 176/-112 (64)
813                 function                                   old     new   delta
814                 hash_command                                 -     176    +176
815                 hash_algo                                   16       -     -16
816                 do_mem_crc                                 184      88     -96
817...
818
819
820This shows that commit 19 has reduced codesize for arm slightly and increased
821it for powerpc. This increase was offset in by reductions in rodata and
822data/bss.
823
824Shown below the summary lines are the sizes for each board. Below each board
825are the sizes for each function. This information starts with:
826
827   add - number of functions added / removed
828   grow - number of functions which grew / shrunk
829   bytes - number of bytes of code added to / removed from all functions,
830            plus the total byte change in brackets
831
832The change seems to be that hash_command() has increased by more than the
833do_mem_crc() function has decreased. The function sizes typically add up to
834roughly the text area size, but note that every read-only section except
835rodata is included in 'text', so the function total does not exactly
836correspond.
837
838It is common when refactoring code for the rodata to decrease as the text size
839increases, and vice versa.
840
841
842The .buildman file
843==================
844
845The .buildman file provides information about the available toolchains and
846also allows build flags to be passed to 'make'. It consists of several
847sections, with the section name in square brackets. Within each section are
848a set of (tag, value) pairs.
849
850'[toolchain]' section
851
852    This lists the available toolchains. The tag here doesn't matter, but
853    make sure it is unique. The value is the path to the toolchain. Buildman
854    will look in that path for a file ending in 'gcc'. It will then execute
855    it to check that it is a C compiler, passing only the --version flag to
856    it. If the return code is 0, buildman assumes that it is a valid C
857    compiler. It uses the first part of the name as the architecture and
858    strips off the last part when setting the CROSS_COMPILE environment
859    variable (parts are delimited with a hyphen).
860
861    For example powerpc-linux-gcc will be noted as a toolchain for 'powerpc'
862    and CROSS_COMPILE will be set to powerpc-linux- when using it.
863
864'[toolchain-alias]' section
865
866    This converts toolchain architecture names to U-Boot names. For example,
867    if an x86 toolchains is called i386-linux-gcc it will not normally be
868    used for architecture 'x86'. Adding 'x86: i386 x86_64' to this section
869    will tell buildman that the i386 and x86_64 toolchains can be used for
870    the x86 architecture.
871
872'[make-flags]' section
873
874    U-Boot's build system supports a few flags (such as BUILD_TAG) which
875    affect the build product. These flags can be specified in the buildman
876    settings file. They can also be useful when building U-Boot against other
877    open source software.
878
879    [make-flags]
880    at91-boards=ENABLE_AT91_TEST=1
881    snapper9260=${at91-boards} BUILD_TAG=442
882    snapper9g45=${at91-boards} BUILD_TAG=443
883
884    This will use 'make ENABLE_AT91_TEST=1 BUILD_TAG=442' for snapper9260
885    and 'make ENABLE_AT91_TEST=1 BUILD_TAG=443' for snapper9g45. A special
886    variable ${target} is available to access the target name (snapper9260
887    and snapper9g20 in this case). Variables are resolved recursively. Note
888    that variables can only contain the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hyphen (-)
889    and underscore (_).
890
891    It is expected that any variables added are dealt with in U-Boot's
892    config.mk file and documented in the README.
893
894    Note that you can pass ad-hoc options to the build using environment
895    variables, for example:
896
897       SOME_OPTION=1234 ./tools/buildman/buildman my_board
898
899
900Quick Sanity Check
901==================
902
903If you have made changes and want to do a quick sanity check of the
904currently checked-out source, run buildman without the -b flag. This will
905build the selected boards and display build status as it runs (i.e. -v is
906enabled automatically). Use -e to see errors/warnings as well.
907
908
909Building Ranges
910===============
911
912You can build a range of commits by specifying a range instead of a branch
913when using the -b flag. For example:
914
915    upstream/master..us-buildman
916
917will build commits in us-buildman that are not in upstream/master.
918
919
920Building Faster
921===============
922
923By default, buildman executes 'make mrproper' prior to building the first
924commit for each board. This causes everything to be built from scratch. If you
925trust the build system's incremental build capabilities, you can pass the -I
926flag to skip the 'make mproper' invocation, which will reduce the amount of
927work 'make' does, and hence speed up the build. This flag will speed up any
928buildman invocation, since it reduces the amount of work done on any build.
929
930One possible application of buildman is as part of a continual edit, build,
931edit, build, ... cycle; repeatedly applying buildman to the same change or
932series of changes while making small incremental modifications to the source
933each time. This provides quick feedback regarding the correctness of recent
934modifications. In this scenario, buildman's default choice of build directory
935causes more build work to be performed than strictly necessary.
936
937By default, each buildman thread uses a single directory for all builds. When a
938thread builds multiple boards, the configuration built in this directory will
939cycle through various different configurations, one per board built by the
940thread. Variations in the configuration will force a rebuild of affected source
941files when a thread switches between boards. Ideally, such buildman-induced
942rebuilds would not happen, thus allowing the build to operate as efficiently as
943the build system and source changes allow. buildman's -P flag may be used to
944enable this; -P causes each board to be built in a separate (board-specific)
945directory, thus avoiding any buildman-induced configuration changes in any
946build directory.
947
948U-Boot's build system embeds information such as a build timestamp into the
949final binary. This information varies each time U-Boot is built. This causes
950various files to be rebuilt even if no source changes are made, which in turn
951requires that the final U-Boot binary be re-linked. This unnecessary work can
952be avoided by turning off the timestamp feature. This can be achieved by
953setting the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable to 0.
954
955Combining all of these options together yields the command-line shown below.
956This will provide the quickest possible feedback regarding the current content
957of the source tree, thus allowing rapid tested evolution of the code.
958
959    SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=0 ./tools/buildman/buildman -I -P tegra
960
961
962Checking configuration
963======================
964
965A common requirement when converting CONFIG options to Kconfig is to check
966that the effective configuration has not changed due to the conversion.
967Buildman supports this with the -K option, used after a build. This shows
968differences in effective configuration between one commit and the next.
969
970For example:
971
972    $ buildman -b kc4 -sK
973    ...
974    43: Convert CONFIG_SPL_USBETH_SUPPORT to Kconfig
975    arm:
976    + u-boot.cfg: CONFIG_SPL_ENV_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NET_SUPPORT=1
977    + u-boot-spl.cfg: CONFIG_SPL_MMC_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NAND_SUPPORT=1
978    + all: CONFIG_SPL_ENV_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_MMC_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NAND_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NET_SUPPORT=1
979    am335x_evm_usbspl :
980    + u-boot.cfg: CONFIG_SPL_ENV_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NET_SUPPORT=1
981    + u-boot-spl.cfg: CONFIG_SPL_MMC_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NAND_SUPPORT=1
982    + all: CONFIG_SPL_ENV_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_MMC_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NAND_SUPPORT=1 CONFIG_SPL_NET_SUPPORT=1
983    44: Convert CONFIG_SPL_USB_HOST_SUPPORT to Kconfig
984    ...
985
986This shows that commit 44 enabled three new options for the board
987am335x_evm_usbspl which were not enabled in commit 43. There is also a
988summary for 'arm' showing all the changes detected for that architecture.
989In this case there is only one board with changes, so 'arm' output is the
990same as 'am335x_evm_usbspl'/
991
992The -K option uses the u-boot.cfg, spl/u-boot-spl.cfg and tpl/u-boot-tpl.cfg
993files which are produced by a build. If all you want is to check the
994configuration you can in fact avoid doing a full build, using -D. This tells
995buildman to configuration U-Boot and create the .cfg files, but not actually
996build the source. This is 5-10 times faster than doing a full build.
997
998By default buildman considers the follow two configuration methods
999equivalent:
1000
1001   #define CONFIG_SOME_OPTION
1002
1003   CONFIG_SOME_OPTION=y
1004
1005The former would appear in a header filer and the latter in a defconfig
1006file. The achieve this, buildman considers 'y' to be '1' in configuration
1007variables. This avoids lots of useless output when converting a CONFIG
1008option to Kconfig. To disable this behaviour, use --squash-config-y.
1009
1010
1011Checking the environment
1012========================
1013
1014When converting CONFIG options which manipulate the default environment,
1015a common requirement is to check that the default environment has not
1016changed due to the conversion. Buildman supports this with the -U option,
1017used after a build. This shows differences in the default environment
1018between one commit and the next.
1019
1020For example:
1021
1022$ buildman -b squash brppt1 -sU
1023boards.cfg is up to date. Nothing to do.
1024Summary of 2 commits for 3 boards (3 threads, 3 jobs per thread)
102501: Migrate bootlimit to Kconfig
102602: Squashed commit of the following:
1027   c brppt1_mmc: altbootcmd=mmc dev 1; run mmcboot0; -> mmc dev 1; run mmcboot0
1028   c brppt1_spi: altbootcmd=mmc dev 1; run mmcboot0; -> mmc dev 1; run mmcboot0
1029   + brppt1_nand: altbootcmd=run usbscript
1030   - brppt1_nand:  altbootcmd=run usbscript
1031(no errors to report)
1032
1033This shows that commit 2 modified the value of 'altbootcmd' for 'brppt1_mmc'
1034and 'brppt1_spi', removing a trailing semicolon. 'brppt1_nand' gained an a
1035value for 'altbootcmd', but lost one for ' altbootcmd'.
1036
1037The -U option uses the u-boot.env files which are produced by a build.
1038
1039Other options
1040=============
1041
1042Buildman has various other command line options. Try --help to see them.
1043
1044When doing builds, Buildman's return code will reflect the overall result:
1045
1046    0 (success)     No errors or warnings found
1047    128             Errors found
1048    129             Warnings found
1049
1050
1051How to change from MAKEALL
1052==========================
1053
1054Buildman includes most of the features of MAKEALL and is generally faster
1055and easier to use. In particular it builds entire branches: if a particular
1056commit introduces an error in a particular board, buildman can easily show
1057you this, even if a later commit fixes that error.
1058
1059The reasons to deprecate MAKEALL are:
1060- We don't want to maintain two build systems
1061- Buildman is typically faster
1062- Buildman has a lot more features
1063
1064But still, many people will be sad to lose MAKEALL. If you are used to
1065MAKEALL, here are a few pointers.
1066
1067First you need to set up your tool chains - see the 'Setting up' section
1068for details. Once you have your required toolchain(s) detected then you are
1069ready to go.
1070
1071To build the current source tree, run buildman without a -b flag:
1072
1073   ./tools/buildman/buildman <list of things to build>
1074
1075This will build the current source tree for the given boards and display
1076the results and errors.
1077
1078However buildman usually works on entire branches, and for that you must
1079specify a board flag:
1080
1081   ./tools/buildman/buildman -b <branch_name> <list of things to build>
1082
1083followed by (afterwards, or perhaps concurrently in another terminal):
1084
1085   ./tools/buildman/buildman -b <branch_name> -s <list of things to build>
1086
1087to see the results of the build. Rather than showing you all the output,
1088buildman just shows a summary, with red indicating that a commit introduced
1089an error and green indicating that a commit fixed an error. Use the -e
1090flag to see the full errors and -l to see which boards caused which errors.
1091
1092If you really want to see build results as they happen, use -v when doing a
1093build (and -e to see the errors/warnings too).
1094
1095You don't need to stick around on that branch while buildman is running. It
1096checks out its own copy of the source code, so you can change branches,
1097add commits, etc. without affecting the build in progress.
1098
1099The <list of things to build> can include board names, architectures or the
1100like. There are no flags to disambiguate since ambiguities are rare. Using
1101the examples from MAKEALL:
1102
1103Examples:
1104  - build all Power Architecture boards:
1105      MAKEALL -a powerpc
1106      MAKEALL --arch powerpc
1107      MAKEALL powerpc
1108          ** buildman -b <branch> powerpc
1109  - build all PowerPC boards manufactured by vendor "esd":
1110      MAKEALL -a powerpc -v esd
1111          ** buildman -b <branch> esd
1112  - build all PowerPC boards manufactured either by "keymile" or "siemens":
1113      MAKEALL -a powerpc -v keymile -v siemens
1114          ** buildman -b <branch> keymile siemens
1115  - build all Freescale boards with MPC83xx CPUs, plus all 4xx boards:
1116      MAKEALL -c mpc83xx -v freescale 4xx
1117          ** buildman -b <branch> mpc83xx freescale 4xx
1118
1119Buildman automatically tries to use all the CPUs in your machine. If you
1120are building a lot of boards it will use one thread for every CPU core
1121it detects in your machine. This is like MAKEALL's BUILD_NBUILDS option.
1122You can use the -T flag to change the number of threads. If you are only
1123building a few boards, buildman will automatically run make with the -j
1124flag to increase the number of concurrent make tasks. It isn't normally
1125that helpful to fiddle with this option, but if you use the BUILD_NCPUS
1126option in MAKEALL then -j is the equivalent in buildman.
1127
1128Buildman puts its output in ../<branch_name> by default but you can change
1129this with the -o option. Buildman normally does out-of-tree builds: use -i
1130to disable that if you really want to. But be careful that once you have
1131used -i you pollute buildman's copies of the source tree, and you will need
1132to remove the build directory (normally ../<branch_name>) to run buildman
1133in normal mode (without -i).
1134
1135Buildman doesn't keep the output result normally, but use the -k option to
1136do this.
1137
1138Please read 'Theory of Operation' a few times as it will make a lot of
1139things clearer.
1140
1141Some options you might like are:
1142
1143   -B shows which functions are growing/shrinking in which commit - great
1144        for finding code bloat.
1145   -S shows image sizes for each commit (just an overall summary)
1146   -u shows boards that you haven't built yet
1147   --step 0 will build just the upstream commit and the last commit of your
1148        branch. This is often a quick sanity check that your branch doesn't
1149        break anything. But note this does not check bisectability!
1150
1151
1152TODO
1153====
1154
1155This has mostly be written in my spare time as a response to my difficulties
1156in testing large series of patches. Apart from tidying up there is quite a
1157bit of scope for improvement. Things like better error diffs and easier
1158access to log files. Also it would be nice if buildman could 'hunt' for
1159problems, perhaps by building a few boards for each arch, or checking
1160commits for changed files and building only boards which use those files.
1161
1162A specific problem to fix is that Ctrl-C does not exit buildman cleanly when
1163multiple builder threads are active.
1164
1165Credits
1166=======
1167
1168Thanks to Grant Grundler <grundler@chromium.org> for his ideas for improving
1169the build speed by building all commits for a board instead of the other
1170way around.
1171
1172
1173Simon Glass
1174sjg@chromium.org
1175Halloween 2012
1176Updated 12-12-12
1177Updated 23-02-13
1178