This patch makes the benefit of the recently introduced unified Genode
ABI available to developers by enabling the use of multiple kernels from
within a single build directory. The create_builddir tool has gained a
new set of kernel-agnostic platform arguments such as x86_32, or panda.
Most build targets within directories are in principle compatible with
all kernels that support the selected hardware platform. To execute a
scenario via the run tool, one has to select the kernel to use by
setting the 'KERNEL' argument in the build configuration
(etc/build.conf). Alternatively, the 'KERNEL' can be specified as
command-line argument of the Genode build system, e.g.:
make run/log KERNEL=nova
This allows us to easily switch from one kernel to another without
rebuilding any Genode component except for the very few kernel-specific
ones.
The new version of the 'create_builddir' tool is still compatible with
the old version. The old kernel-specific build directories can still be
created. However, those variants will eventually be removed.
Note that the commit removes the 'ports-foc' repository from the
generated 'build.conf' files. As this is only meaningful for 'foc',
I did not want to include it in the list of regular repositories (as
visible in a 'x86_32' build directory). Hence, the repository must
now be manually added in order to use L4Linux.
Issue #2190
This patch removes possible ambiguities with respect to the naming of
kernel-dependent binaries and libraries. It also removes the use of
kernel-specific global side effects from the build system. The reach of
kernel-specific peculiarities has thereby become limited to the actual
users of the respective 'syscall-<kernel>' libraries.
Kernel-specific build artifacts are no longer generated at magic places
within the build directory (like okl4's includes, or the L4 build
directories of L4/Fiasco and Fiasco.OC, or the build directories of
various kernels). Instead, such artifacts have been largely moved to the
libcache. E.g., the former '<build-dir>/l4/' build directory for the L4
build system resides at '<build-dir>/var/libcache/syscall-foc/build/'.
This way, the location is unique to the kernel. Note that various tools
are still generated somewhat arbitrarily under '<build-dir>/tool/' as
there is no proper formalism for building host tools yet.
As the result of this work, it has become possible to use a joint Genode
build directory that is usable with all kernels of a given hardware
platform. E.g., on x86_32, one can now seamlessly switch between linux,
nova, sel4, okl4, fiasco, foc, and pistachio without rebuilding any
components except for core, the kernel, the dynamic linker, and the timer
driver. At the current stage, such a build directory must still be
created manually. A change of the 'create_builddir' tool will follow to
make this feature easily available.
This patch also simplifies various 'run/boot_dir' plugins by removing
the option for an externally hosted kernel. This option remained unused
for many years now.
Issue #2190
This patch changes the top-level directory layout as a preparatory
step for improving the tools for managing 3rd-party source codes.
The rationale is described in the issue referenced below.
Issue #1082
Sebastian Sumpf
Norman Feske