PyMaemo/How to build

Contents

How to build PyMaemo packages

Introduction

To build PyMaemo packages from the source, you'll need:

  • Maemo 5 SDK
  • Rootstraps for X86 and ARMEL targets
  • grep-dctrl
  • pymaemo-builder

The scripts from pymaemo-builder are used to download packages' sources and build them using sbdmock, one at a time. sbdmock, in turn, uses the SDK and the rootstraps to create a clean environment for building every package. More information about sbdmock can be obtained here, although pymaemo-builder uses a slightly modified of sbdmock - see pymaemo-builder README if you want to know which modifications were made.

The scripts from pymaemo-builder can be used to build the entire set of packages or only some of them, for X86 or ARMEL targets. It is advised to first build and (if possible) test in the X86 target and use ARMEL target only for cross-compiling for the device.

Overview of the build process

The build process is composed of three phases: download, preparation and the proper build. A high-level description of the process follows:

  • Download phase:
    • If the package is originally from Debian or Ubuntu:
      • The original source is taken from upstream;
      • The Debian packaging for Maemo is taken from the respective repository in PyMaemo project.
    • If the package is Maemo-specific:
      • The source package is taken from the respective repository in PyMaemo project
  • Preparation phase:
    • If the package is taken from upstream, assemble package
    • Verify if dependencies are satisfied
  • Build phase:
    • Call sbdmock with proper parameters

Configuration

The base directory for these instructions, refered as $BASE, is /scratchbox/users/<user>/home/<user>/pymaemo, where <user> is your username in Scratchbox. All operations are made outside Scratchbox.

First, download the rootstraps for X86 and ARMEL targets and put them in $BASE/rootstraps:

Clone the pymaemo-builder project inside $BASE: 

$ git clone [git repo]

This will create the directory pymaemo-builder under $BASE.

Edit the fremantle_i386.cfg and fremantle_armel.cfg under $BASE/pymaemo-builder/sbdmock, putting the rootstrap path correspondent to each in the following key:

  • i386: config_opts['rootstrap'] = "$BASE/rootstraps/maemo-sdk-rootstrap_5.0_i386.tgz"
  • armel: config_opts['rootstrap'] = "$BASE/rootstraps/maemo-sdk-rootstrap_5.0_armel.tgz"

Building

For building all the packages for the X86 target, enter $BASE/pymaemo-builder and run: 

$ ./build_packages.sh sbdmock:fremantle_i386 packages_fremantle.ini

The same can be done to ARMEL target, just replacing "i386" with "armel". The file packages_fremantle.ini contains all data necessary for obtaining the sources.

You can build individual packages too, specifying them as parameters. If you want to build only, let's say, pyopenssl and pycurl for the ARMEL target, run: 

$ ./build_packages.sh sbdmock:fremantle_armel packages_fremantle.ini pyopenssl,pycurl

Be advised that any PyMaemo dependency for these packages must be built first, as build_packages.sh will attempt to build only the packages provided at the command line.

There are other options for the build; for more information, run ./build_packages.sh with no parameters or refer to the README file inside pymaemo-builder.

When the build finishes the resultant Debian packages will be placed at $BASE/pymaemo-builder/workdir/fremantle_<target>/repo, where <target> is i386 or armel,and the build logs placed in $BASE/pymaemo-builder/workdir/fremantle_<target>/logs. From that point on, they can be installed on the targets and the ARMEL ones can be copied to the device to be installed there.

Directories created

  • $BASE/pymaemo-builder/download_cache: all downloaded files are placed here, one directory by package, so you don't have to download everything again in every build. If the sources are updated, though, you will have to erase the corresponding entry on download_cache for allow them to be downloaded again.
  • $BASE/pymaemo-builder/workdir: the generated files (prepared sources, logs, built packages) are placed under this directory, grouped by the name of the sbdmock config file used to build them. Inside each group, the logs and repo directories will contain, respectively, the build logs and the built packages.

Tips

If you want to quickly make a Debian repository for easy installation, run the following command at $BASE/pymaemo-builder/workdir/fremantle_<target>/repo: 

$ apt-ftparchive packages . | gzip -9c > Packages.gz

Now you have to expose the packages' path to the Web server and add the repository in the target machine accordingly.

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