README.md

N.B. If you're interested in building Midipix using this script, please join the project's IRC channel #midipix on Freenode and ask for the address of the internal repositories required in order to build Midipix.

Table of Contents

  1. What is midipix, and how is it different?
  2. Building a midipix distribution
    2.1. Build-time dependencies
    2.1.1. Alpine-specific notate bene
    2.2. Deployment
    2.3. System requirements
  3. Common tasks
    3.1. Fault-tolerant & highly optimised 3D laser show-equipped usage screen
    3.2. Adding a package
    3.3. Addressing build failure
    3.4. Patches and vars files
    3.5. pkgtool.sh
    3.5.1. -s: package build shell environment
  4. Build variables
    4.1. Build steps
    4.2. Package variables
  5. References

1. What is midipix, and how is it different?

midipix is a development environment that lets you create programs for Windows using the standard C and POSIX APIs. No compromises made, no shortcuts taken.

If you are interested in cross-platform programming that reclaims the notion of write once, compile everywhere; if you believe that the 'standard' in the C Standard Library should not be a null signifier; and if you like cooking your code without #ifdef hell and low-level minutiae, then this page is for you.

midipix makes cross-platform programming better, simpler and faster, specifically by bringing a modern, conforming C Runtime Library to the Windows platform. While the idea itself is not new, the approach taken in midipix to code portability is radically different from that found in other projects.

(reproduced from [2])

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2. Building a midipix distribution

A Midipix distribution consists of the following: * the native Midipix toolchain, consisting of perk, gcc, its dependencies, and binutils, * musl, a lightweight, fast, simple, and free libc[1] used by Midipix, * the Midipix runtime components that bridge the gap between the libc and the executive subsystems of all Windows NT-derived Windows OS starting with and including Windows XP, and * a steadily increasing number of 3rd party open source packages, as expected in any modern POSIX-compliant *nix environment, including GNU coreutils, shells, libraries such as ncurses, libressl, as well as Perl and Python.

Install the build-time dependencies listed in section 2.1, clone this repository, and run the following command line:

./build.sh -a nt64 -b release -D zipdist -P -v

By default, the build will take place within ${HOME}/midipix/nt64/release and package archive files and/or Git repositores will be downloaded into ${HOME}/midipix/dlcache. Consult sections 3.1, 4, and 4.1 for the list of available build variables and how to override them.
Parallelisation is enabled by the above command line for both packages that can be built independently of each other and make(1) via -j, limited to the amount of logical processors on the build host divided by two (2).

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2.1. Build-time dependencies

  • Alpine Linux: binutils bzip2 cmake coreutils curl findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip libc-dev linux-headers lzip make musl-dev net-tools patch perl perl-xml-parser procps sed tar util-linux wget xz zip
  • Debian/-derived Linux: binutils bzip2 clzip cmake coreutils curl findutils g++ gawk gcc git grep gzip hostname libc6-dev libxml-parser-perl lzma make patch perl procps sed tar util-linux wget xz-utils zip
  • OpenSUSE Linux: binutils bzip2 cmake coreutils curl findutils gawk gcc gcc-c++ git grep gzip hostname linux-glibc-devel lzip make patch perl perl-XML-Parser procps sed tar util-linux wget xz zip

N.B. Busybox is not supported. Awk implementations other than GNU Awk are not supported.

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2.1.1. Alpine-specific notate bene

Some packages (coreutils, grep, and tar, among others) override Alpine's BusyBox utilities of the same name, as the latter are either non-conformant or defective.

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2.2. Deployment

On successful completion of the build, a ZIP archive containing the Midipix distribution will be created inside ${PREFIX} (see section 4.) Create a directory on the target machine and extract the contents of the distribution ZIP archive into it, run bash.bat, and then /install.sh inside the resulting self-contained Midipix installation shell window.

N.B. The pathname of the target directory containing bash.bat and all other distribution files must not contain whitespaces.

N.B. The Midipix installer defaults to /dev/fs/c/midipix (C:\midipix). If left unchanged, the distribution ZIP archive must not be extracted into a directory of the same pathname.

N.B. The user installing and using Midipix must have been delegated the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege ("Create symbolic links") privilege[3] and additionally be a non-administrator account owing to the UAC-related filtering policy of tokens introduced by Windows Vista[4].

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2.3. System requirements

The following system requirements are assessed on build hosts equipped with the following hardware at minimum: * Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU W3520 @ 2.67GHz (8 cores) * 7200 RPM SATA 3.1 HDD * 6 GB RAM

Target architecture Build kind Distribution kinds selected Average build time Disk space required Peak RAM usage
nt64 debug (none) 2 hours 57.62 GB 3.55 GB
nt64 release (none) 1 hours 45 minutes 36.51 GB 3.21 GB

Package archive files and/or Git repositories additionally consume at least 1.82 GB.

(last update: Thu, 05 Mar 2020 09:25:41 +0000)

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3. Common tasks

Rebuild set of packages in isolation:

./build.sh [ ... ] -r mc,zsh

Rebuild set of packages along w/ their dependencies, if any, as needed, or forcibly, respectively:

./build.sh [ ... ] -r \*mc,zsh
./build.sh [ ... ] -r \*\*mc,zsh

Forcibly rebuild all reverse dependencies of a set of packages:

./build.sh [ ... ] -r \*\*\*glib,libflac

Restart the configure, build, and install steps of the coreutils package:

./build.sh -r coreutils:configure,build,install

Rebuild entire build groups including or excluding group dependencies, respectively:

./build.sh [ ... ] -r ALL native_runtime
./build.sh [ ... ] -r ALL =native_runtime

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3.1. Fault-tolerant & highly optimised 3D laser show-equipped usage screen

usage: ./build.sh [-a nt32|nt64] [-b debug|release] [-C dir[,..]] [-d] [-D kind[,..]]
                  [-F ipv4|ipv6|offline]    [-h]    [-p jobs]    [-P]   [-r ALL|LAST]
                  [-r [*[*[*]]]name[,..][:step,..]]  [-R] [-v[v[v[v]]]] [--as-needed]
                  [--debug-minipix] [--dump-on-abort] [--roar]
                  [[=]<group>|<variable name>=<variable override>[ ..]]

        -a nt32|nt64      Selects 32-bit or 64-bit architecture; defaults to nt64.
        -b debug|release  Selects debug or release build kind; defaults to debug.
        -C dir[,..]       Clean build directory (build,) ${PREFIX} before processing build
                          scripts (prefix,) source directory (src,) and/or destination
                          directory (dest) after successful package builds.
        -D kind[,..]      Produce minimal midipix distribution directory (minipix,) RPM
                          binary packages (rpm,) and/or deployable distribution ZIP
                          archive (zipdist.) zipdist implies minipix.
        -F ipv4|ipv6|offline
                          Force IPv4 (ipv4) or IPv6 (ipv6) when downloading package
                          archives and/or Git repositories or don't download either at all
                          (offline.)
        -h                Show this screen.
        -p jobs           Enables parallelisation at group-level, whenever applicable.
        -P                The maximum count of jobs defaults to the number of logical
                          processors on the host system divided by two (2.)

                          If -R is not specified and at least one (1) package fails to
                          build, all remaining package builds will be forcibly aborted.

        -r ALL|LAST       Restart all packages or the last failed package and resume
                          build, resp.
        -r [*[*[*]]]name[,..][:step,..]
                          Restart the specified comma-separated package(s) completely or
                          at optionally specified comma-separated list of build steps.

                          Prepend w/ `*' to automatically include dependencies, `**' to
                          forcibly rebuild all dependencies, and `***` to forcibly rebuild
                          all packages that depend on the specified package(s).

                          Currently defined build steps are:
                          fetch_wget, fetch_git, fetch_extract, configure_patch_pre,
                          configure_autotools, configure_patch, configure, build,
                          install_subdirs, install_make, install_files, install_libs,
                          install, and install_rpm.

        -R                Ignore build failures, skip printing package logs, and continue
                          building (relaxed mode.)
        -v[v[v[v]]]       Be verbose; -vv: always print package logs; -vvv: set xtrace
                          during package builds; -vvvv: logs fileops.
        --as-needed       Don't build unless the midipix_build repository has received
                          new commits.
        --debug-minipix   Don't strip(1) minipix binaries to facilitate debugging minipix.
        --dump-on-abort   Produce package environment dump files on build failure to be
                          used in conjuction with pkg_shell.sh script (excludes -R.)
        <group>[ ..]      One of: dev_packages, dist, host_deps, host_deps_rpm,
                          host_toolchain, host_tools, minipix, native_packages,
                          native_runtime, native_toolchain, native_tools.

                          Prepend w/ `=' to inhibit group-group dependency expansion.

        <variable name>=<variable override>[ ..]
                          Override build or package variable.

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3.2. Adding a package

Packages are grouped into build groups according to sets of common package variable defaults, such as ${PKG_CFLAGS_CONFIGURE}, ${PKG_LDFLAGS_CONFIGURE} and ${PKG_CONFIGURE_ARGS}, and semantic interrelatedness, such as the native_runtime build group comprising the Midipix runtime components. Packages may belong to more than one build group such as when subsumed by a shorthand build group e.g. the dev_packages build group, as long as the default set of build groups or as overriden on the command line does not entail group membership conflicts.

Build groups files beneath groups/ named [0-9][0-9][0-9].<group name>.group contain package variable defaults, the alphabetically sorted list of contained packages in <upper case group name>_PACKAGES, and their package variables sorted alphabetically with the exception of ${PKG_DEPENDS} (if present,) ${PKG_SHA256SUM}, ${PKG_URL}, and ${PKG_VERSION}, and/or ${PKG_URLS_GIT}, which are specified in this order.

Pick a build group according to the criteria mentioned, add the package to the build group's list of contained packages in its corresponding file, and add the set of package variables required (see above and section 4.2.)
Consult section 3.4 if the package to be added requires patches or additional code amending or replacing package build steps or the entire package build. Consult section 4.1 for a list of package build steps and how they are overriden.

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3.3. Addressing build failure

During package build, standard error and output are redirected into a log file beneath ${BUILD_WORKDIR} named ${PKG_NAME}_stderrout.log, following a package variable dump. If -vv was specified, package logs will additionally be printed to standard output. If -vvv was specified, xtrace will be set during package builds for rudimentary debugging purposes. Additionally, packages using GNU autotools will, if package configuration failed or appears relevant, log the configuration process in detail in, most usually, ${PKG_BUILD_DIR}/config.log.

If --dump-on-abort was specified, a subset of the variables set and environment variables exported will be written to ${BUILD_WORKDIR}/${PKG_NAME}.dump, which may subsequently be used in order to obtain a package build shell environment with the pkgtool.sh script (see sections 3.53.5.1.)

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3.4. Patches and vars files

Package patches are applied prior and/or subsequent to (GNU autotools or simular) package configuration during the configure_patch_pre and/or configure_patch build steps, respectively (see section 4.1.) Patch files are searched for beneath patches/ with the following globs and in-order: * ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}_pre.local.patch or ${PKG_NAME}_pre.local.patch (for packages lacking ${PKG_VERSION}) * ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}_pre.local@${BUILD_HNAME}.patch or ${PKG_NAME}_pre.local@${BUILD_HNAME}.patch (for packages lacking ${PKG_VERSION}) * ${PKG_NAME}/*.patch * ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}.local.patch or ${PKG_NAME}.local.patch (for packages lacking ${PKG_VERSION}) * ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}.local@${BUILD_HNAME}.patch or ${PKG_NAME}.local@${BUILD_HNAME}.patch (for packages lacking ${PKG_VERSION}) * ${PKG_PATCHES_EXTRA} (if set)

If the default set of package build steps does not suffice, such as if additional commands must be executed after package configuration or prior to building, or if an entire or all build step must be replaced, overrides may be specified in the form of functions in the package's vars/${PKG_NAME}.vars vars file. Consult section 4.1 for a list of package build steps and how they are overriden.

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3.5. pkgtool.sh

usage: ./pkgtool.sh [-a nt32|nt64] [-b debug|release] [-i|-r|-s|-t]
                    [<variable name>=<variable override>[ ..]] name

        -a nt32|nt64      Selects 32-bit or 64-bit architecture; defaults to nt64.
        -b debug|release  Selects debug or release build kind; defaults to debug.
        -i                List package variables and dependencies of single named package.
        -r                List reverse dependencies of single named package.
        -s                Enter interactive package build shell environment for single
                          named package; requires a package dump file. If the package
                          has not been built yet or built successfully, it will be rebuilt
                          at build steps up until, by default, the `build' build step and
                          forcibly aborted and dumped prior to enterting the shell.
        -t                Produce tarball of package build root directory and build log
                          file for the purpose of distribution given build failure.

        <variable name>=<variable override>[ ..]
                          Override build variable.

N.B. When using pkgtool.sh on a build w/ build variables (see section 4) overriden on the command line or via the environment, ensure that they are included in the pkgtool.sh command line, preceding the package name, or exported, respectively.

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3.5.1. -s: package build shell environment

When build.sh is executed with the --dump-on-abort option, a subset of the variables set and environment variables exported will be written to ${BUILD_WORKDIR}/${PKG_NAME}.dump on build failure, which may subsequently be used in order to obtain a package build shell environment with the pkgtool.sh script, e.g.:

midipix_build@sandbox:(src/midipix_build)> $ ./pkgtool.sh -a nt64 -b debug -s mc
==> 2020/03/11 15:46:28 Launching shell `/usr/bin/zsh' within package environment and `/home/midipix_build/midipix/nt64/debug/tmp'.
==> 2020/03/11 15:46:28 Run $R to rebuild `mc'.
==> 2020/03/11 15:46:28 Run $RS <step> to restart the specified build step of `mc'
==> 2020/03/11 15:46:28 Run $D to automatically regenerate the patch for `mc'.
midipix_build@sandbox:(src/midipix_build)> $

If a package build shell environment is desired for a package that has either not been built at all or built successfully, pkgshell.sh will attempt to rebuild the package at build steps up until, by default, build, and then forcibly abort the build and write ${BUILD_WORKDIR}/${PKG_NAME}.dump as above prior to entering the shell.

Consult sections 3.2, 3.4, 4, 4.1, and 4.2 for further information concerning the package build process.

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4. Build variables

The following variables are primarily defined in midipix.env and may be overriden on a per-build basis on the command-line, the environment, and/or ${HOME}/midipix_build.vars, ${HOME}/.midipix_build.vars, and/or ../midipix_build.vars, e.g.:

./build.sh -a nt64 -b release -D minipix,zipdist -P -v PREFIX_ROOT="${HOME}/midipix_tmp"
env ARCH=nt64 BUILD_KIND=release PREFIX_ROOT="${HOME}/midipix_tmp" ./build.sh -D minipix,zipdist -P -v
Variable name Default value Description
ARCH nt64 Target 32-bit (nt32) or 64-bit (nt64) architecture
BUILD_DLCACHEDIR ${PREFIX_ROOT}/dlcache Absolute pathname to package downloads cache root directory
BUILD_HNAME $(hostname) Build system hostname
BUILD_KIND debug Build w/ debugging (debug) or release compiler flags
BUILD_WORKDIR ${PREFIX}/tmp Absolute pathname to temporary package build root directory
PREFIX ${PREFIX_ROOT}/${ARCH}/${BUILD_KIND} Absolute pathname to architecture- & build type-specific build root directory
PREFIX_CROSS ${PREFIX}/${DEFAULT_TARGET} Absolute pathname to toolchain root directory
PREFIX_MINGW32 ${PREFIX}/x86_64-w64-mingw32 Absolute pathname to MinGW toolchain root directory
PREFIX_MINIPIX ${PREFIX}/minipix Absolute pathname to minipix distribution root directory
PREFIX_NATIVE ${PREFIX}/native Absolute pathname to cross-compiled packages root directory
PREFIX_ROOT ${HOME}/midipix Absolute pathname to top-level directory
PREFIX_RPM ${PREFIX}/rpm Absolute pathname to package RPM archive root directory

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4.1. Build steps

Package builds are divided up into consecutively executed build steps until completion or aborted on failure unless relaxed mode is enabled by passing -R.

Each build step corresponds to a function in the corresponding subr/pkg_*.subr script and may be overriden entirely by a function named pkg_<package name>_<build step>() or composed in terms of prior and/or subsequent execution by a function named pkg_<package name>_<build step>_pre() and/or pkg_<package name>_<build step>_post(), respectively, in the package's vars file. If a function named pkg_<package name>_all() exists, it will override all build steps.

Build step status is tracked on a per-package basis by state files beneath ${BUILD_WORKDIR} following the format .<package name>.<build step>; package build completion corresponds to the pseudo-build step finish.

Name Description
fetch_download Download package archive & verify w/ SHA-256 message digest and/or clone Git repository/ies
fetch_extract Extract package archive, if any
configure_patch_pre Apply chainport patches and/or patches beneath patches/ prior to (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
configure_autotools Bootstrap (GNU autools or similar) environment, and install config.sub and config.cache
configure_patch Apply patches beneath patches/ and/or set in ${PKG_PATCHES_EXTRA} after (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
configure Perform package (GNU autools or similar) configuration w/ configuration-time set of environment variables
build Call make(1) w/ build-time set of make variables
install_subdirs Create default directory hierarchy in ${PKG_DESTDIR}, optionally amended w/ ${PKG_INSTALL_FILES_DESTDIR_EXTRA}
install_make Call make(1) w/ ${PKG_INSTALL_TARGET} (defaults to install) and installation-time set of make variables
install_files Install ${PKG_INSTALL_FILES}, fix directory and file mode bits within ${PKG_DESTDIR} and optionally ${PKG_DESTDIR_HOST}, pkgconf(1) package files, and/or stripped binaries within ${PKG_DESTDIR}
install_libs Purge libtool .la files and install shared objects within ${PKG_DESTDIR} w/ perk and corresponding symbolic links
install Install into ${PKG_PREFIX}, and optionally ${PKG_DESTDIR_HOST} into ${PREFIX}, under mutex, and add package to ${PREFIX}/pkglist.${PKG_BUILD_TYPE} (unless inhibited)
install_rpm Build package RPM w/ auto-generated specifiation file based on etc/package.spec beneath ${PREFIX_RPM}
clean Clean ${PKG_BUILD_DIR} and/or ${PKG_DESTDIR} and/or ${PKG_DESTDIR_HOST} and/or ${PKG_BASE_DIR}/${PKG_SUBDIR} as per -C build,dest,src, resp., if any

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4.2. Package variables

The following variables are package-specific and receive their value from either top-level defaults defined in midipix.env, build group-specific defaults from the build group the package pertains to and defined in its corresponding file beneath groups/, or package-specific overrides defined either in the latter and/or in its corresponding file beneath vars/, with one of the following prefixes:

Variable name prefix
DEFAULT
DEFAULT_${BUILD_TYPE}
DEFAULT_${GROUP_NAME}
${GROUP_NAME}
PKG_${INHERIT_FROM}
PKG_${INHERIT_FROM}_${BUILD_KIND}
PKG_${NAME}
PKG_${NAME}_${BUILD_KIND}

Additionally, overrides may be specified on a per-build basis on the command- line, with each variable prefixed w/ PKG_, e.g.: ./build.sh [ ... ] PKG_ZSH_CC="/usr/bin/clang".

The minimum set of package variables that must be provided is SHA256SUM, URL, VERSION and/or URLS_GIT, respectively.

Package variable name Description
AR Command- or pathname of toolchain library archive editor ar(1)
BASE_DIR Absolute pathname to package build root directory beneath ${BUILD_WORKDIR}
BUILD_DIR Directory name of package build directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR}
BUILD_STEPS_DISABLE List of build steps to disable during package build
BUILD_TYPE Cross-compiled toolchain (cross,) host (host,) or cross-compiled package (native) build type
CC Command- or pathname of toolchain C compiler cc(1)
CFLAGS_BUILD C compiler flags during package make(1) build
CFLAGS_BUILD_EXTRA Additional C compiler flags during package make(1) build
CFLAGS_CONFIGURE C compiler flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
CFLAGS_CONFIGURE_EXTRA Additional C compiler flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
CONFIG_CACHE List of GNU autotools configuration cache variables
CONFIG_CACHE_EXTRA Additional list of GNU autotools configuration cache variables
CONFIG_CACHE_LOCAL Additional list of GNU autotools configuration cache variables
CONFIGURE Command- or pathname to package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration script
CONFIGURE_ARGS List of arguments to package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration script
CONFIGURE_ARGS_EXTRA Additional list of arguments to package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration script
CXX Command- or pathname of toolchain C++ compiler c++(1)
CXXFLAGS_CONFIGURE List of C++ compiler flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
CXXFLAGS_CONFIGURE_EXTRA Additional list of C++ compiler flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
DEPENDS List of package-package dependencies
DESTDIR Directory name of package installation destination directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR}
DESTDIR_HOST Directory name of optional host package installation destination directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR}
DISABLED Disable package
ENV_VARS_EXTRA List of double colon-separated environment variable equality sign-separated name-value pairs to set during package build
FNAME Filename of package archive file
FORCE_AUTORECONF Forcibly run autoreconf -fiv prior to package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
GITROOT midipix packages Git URL prefix
INHERIT_FROM Inherit variables from named package
INSTALL_FILES Whitespace-separated list of files to manually install into the package installation destination directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR}
INSTALL_FILES_DESTDIR Whitespace-separated list of files to initialise the package installation destination directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR} with
INSTALL_FILES_DESTDIR_EXTRA Additional whitespace-separated list of files to initialise the package installation destination directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR} with
INSTALL_TARGET Name of package build make(1) installation target
INSTALL_TARGET_EXTRA Additional name of package build make(1) installation target
IN_TREE Build package in-tree within ${PKG_SUBDIR}
LDFLAGS_BUILD_EXTRA Additional linker flags during package make(1) build
LDFLAGS_CONFIGURE Linker flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
LDFLAGS_CONFIGURE_EXTRA Additional linker flags during package (GNU autotools or similar) configuration
LIBTOOL Command- or pathname of libtool(1) (defaults to slibtool)
MAKE Command line of make(1)
MAKE_SUBDIRS List of make(1) subdirectories to exclusively build
MAKEFLAGS_BUILD List of make(1) flags during package make(1) build
MAKEFLAGS_BUILD_EXTRA Additional list of make(1) flags during package make(1) build
MAKEFLAGS_INSTALL List of make(1) flags during package make(1) installation
MAKEFLAGS_INSTALL_EXTRA Additional list of make(1) flags during package make(1) installation
MAKEFLAGS_VERBOSITY Variable-value pair to pass to make(1) in order to force echo-back of command lines prior to execution
MAKE_INSTALL_VNAME Variable name of make(1) installation destination directory variable during package make(1) installation
NO_CLEAN Inhibit cleaning of package build directory beneath ${PKG_BASE_DIR} pre-finish
NO_CLEAN_BASE_DIR Inhibit cleaning of package build root directory beneath ${BUILD_WORKDIR}
NO_LOG_VARS Inhibit logging of build & package variables pre-package build
PATCHES_EXTRA Additional list of patches to apply
PKG_CONFIG Command- or pathname of pkg-config(1)
PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR pkg-config(1) search directory
PKGLIST_DISABLE Inhibit inclusion into ${PREFIX}/pkglist.${PKG_BUILD_TYPE}
PREFIX Absolute pathname of top-level installation directory and package search path
PYTHON Command- or pathname of Python
RANLIB Command- or pathname of toolchain library archive index generator ranlib(1)
RPM_DISABLE Inhibit creation of RPM archive
SHA256SUM SHA-256 message digest of package archive
SUBDIR Name of extracted archive or git-{clone,pull}(1)'d directory
TARGET Dash-separated {build,host,target} triplet
URL URL to package archive, optionally appended with whitespace-separated list of alternative URLs
URLS_GIT List of package Git URL(s) (*name*=*URL*@*branch*)
VERSION Package version

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5. References

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