3 This document describes the Linux kernel Makefiles.
10 --- 3.1 Goal definitions
11 --- 3.2 Built-in object goals - obj-y
12 --- 3.3 Loadable module goals - obj-m
13 --- 3.4 Objects which export symbols
14 --- 3.5 Library file goals - lib-y
15 --- 3.6 Descending down in directories
16 --- 3.7 Compilation flags
17 --- 3.8 Command line dependency
18 --- 3.9 Dependency tracking
19 --- 3.10 Special Rules
20 --- 3.11 $(CC) support functions
21 --- 3.12 $(LD) support functions
23 === 4 Host Program support
24 --- 4.1 Simple Host Program
25 --- 4.2 Composite Host Programs
26 --- 4.3 Using C++ for host programs
27 --- 4.4 Controlling compiler options for host programs
28 --- 4.5 When host programs are actually built
29 --- 4.6 Using hostprogs-$(CONFIG_FOO)
31 === 5 Kbuild clean infrastructure
33 === 6 Architecture Makefiles
34 --- 6.1 Set variables to tweak the build to the architecture
35 --- 6.2 Add prerequisites to archheaders:
36 --- 6.3 Add prerequisites to archprepare:
37 --- 6.4 List directories to visit when descending
38 --- 6.5 Architecture-specific boot images
39 --- 6.6 Building non-kbuild targets
40 --- 6.7 Commands useful for building a boot image
41 --- 6.8 Custom kbuild commands
42 --- 6.9 Preprocessing linker scripts
43 --- 6.10 Generic header files
44 --- 6.11 Post-link pass
46 === 7 Kbuild syntax for exported headers
53 === 8 Kbuild Variables
54 === 9 Makefile language
60 The Makefiles have five parts:
62 Makefile the top Makefile.
63 .config the kernel configuration file.
64 arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile the arch Makefile.
65 scripts/Makefile.* common rules etc. for all kbuild Makefiles.
66 kbuild Makefiles there are about 500 of these.
68 The top Makefile reads the .config file, which comes from the kernel
69 configuration process.
71 The top Makefile is responsible for building two major products: vmlinux
72 (the resident kernel image) and modules (any module files).
73 It builds these goals by recursively descending into the subdirectories of
74 the kernel source tree.
75 The list of subdirectories which are visited depends upon the kernel
76 configuration. The top Makefile textually includes an arch Makefile
77 with the name arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile. The arch Makefile supplies
78 architecture-specific information to the top Makefile.
80 Each subdirectory has a kbuild Makefile which carries out the commands
81 passed down from above. The kbuild Makefile uses information from the
82 .config file to construct various file lists used by kbuild to build
83 any built-in or modular targets.
85 scripts/Makefile.* contains all the definitions/rules etc. that
86 are used to build the kernel based on the kbuild makefiles.
91 People have four different relationships with the kernel Makefiles.
93 *Users* are people who build kernels. These people type commands such as
94 "make menuconfig" or "make". They usually do not read or edit
95 any kernel Makefiles (or any other source files).
97 *Normal developers* are people who work on features such as device
98 drivers, file systems, and network protocols. These people need to
99 maintain the kbuild Makefiles for the subsystem they are
100 working on. In order to do this effectively, they need some overall
101 knowledge about the kernel Makefiles, plus detailed knowledge about the
102 public interface for kbuild.
104 *Arch developers* are people who work on an entire architecture, such
105 as sparc or ia64. Arch developers need to know about the arch Makefile
106 as well as kbuild Makefiles.
108 *Kbuild developers* are people who work on the kernel build system itself.
109 These people need to know about all aspects of the kernel Makefiles.
111 This document is aimed towards normal developers and arch developers.
114 === 3 The kbuild files
116 Most Makefiles within the kernel are kbuild Makefiles that use the
117 kbuild infrastructure. This chapter introduces the syntax used in the
119 The preferred name for the kbuild files are 'Makefile' but 'Kbuild' can
120 be used and if both a 'Makefile' and a 'Kbuild' file exists, then the 'Kbuild'
123 Section 3.1 "Goal definitions" is a quick intro, further chapters provide
124 more details, with real examples.
126 --- 3.1 Goal definitions
128 Goal definitions are the main part (heart) of the kbuild Makefile.
129 These lines define the files to be built, any special compilation
130 options, and any subdirectories to be entered recursively.
132 The most simple kbuild makefile contains one line:
137 This tells kbuild that there is one object in that directory, named
138 foo.o. foo.o will be built from foo.c or foo.S.
140 If foo.o shall be built as a module, the variable obj-m is used.
141 Therefore the following pattern is often used:
144 obj-$(CONFIG_FOO) += foo.o
146 $(CONFIG_FOO) evaluates to either y (for built-in) or m (for module).
147 If CONFIG_FOO is neither y nor m, then the file will not be compiled
150 --- 3.2 Built-in object goals - obj-y
152 The kbuild Makefile specifies object files for vmlinux
153 in the $(obj-y) lists. These lists depend on the kernel
156 Kbuild compiles all the $(obj-y) files. It then calls
157 "$(LD) -r" to merge these files into one built-in.o file.
158 built-in.o is later linked into vmlinux by the parent Makefile.
160 The order of files in $(obj-y) is significant. Duplicates in
161 the lists are allowed: the first instance will be linked into
162 built-in.o and succeeding instances will be ignored.
164 Link order is significant, because certain functions
165 (module_init() / __initcall) will be called during boot in the
166 order they appear. So keep in mind that changing the link
167 order may e.g. change the order in which your SCSI
168 controllers are detected, and thus your disks are renumbered.
171 #drivers/isdn/i4l/Makefile
172 # Makefile for the kernel ISDN subsystem and device drivers.
173 # Each configuration option enables a list of files.
174 obj-$(CONFIG_ISDN_I4L) += isdn.o
175 obj-$(CONFIG_ISDN_PPP_BSDCOMP) += isdn_bsdcomp.o
177 --- 3.3 Loadable module goals - obj-m
179 $(obj-m) specifies object files which are built as loadable
182 A module may be built from one source file or several source
183 files. In the case of one source file, the kbuild makefile
184 simply adds the file to $(obj-m).
187 #drivers/isdn/i4l/Makefile
188 obj-$(CONFIG_ISDN_PPP_BSDCOMP) += isdn_bsdcomp.o
190 Note: In this example $(CONFIG_ISDN_PPP_BSDCOMP) evaluates to 'm'
192 If a kernel module is built from several source files, you specify
193 that you want to build a module in the same way as above; however,
194 kbuild needs to know which object files you want to build your
195 module from, so you have to tell it by setting a $(<module_name>-y)
199 #drivers/isdn/i4l/Makefile
200 obj-$(CONFIG_ISDN_I4L) += isdn.o
201 isdn-y := isdn_net_lib.o isdn_v110.o isdn_common.o
203 In this example, the module name will be isdn.o. Kbuild will
204 compile the objects listed in $(isdn-y) and then run
205 "$(LD) -r" on the list of these files to generate isdn.o.
207 Due to kbuild recognizing $(<module_name>-y) for composite objects,
208 you can use the value of a CONFIG_ symbol to optionally include an
209 object file as part of a composite object.
213 obj-$(CONFIG_EXT2_FS) += ext2.o
214 ext2-y := balloc.o dir.o file.o ialloc.o inode.o ioctl.o \
215 namei.o super.o symlink.o
216 ext2-$(CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR) += xattr.o xattr_user.o \
219 In this example, xattr.o, xattr_user.o and xattr_trusted.o are only
220 part of the composite object ext2.o if $(CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR)
223 Note: Of course, when you are building objects into the kernel,
224 the syntax above will also work. So, if you have CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y,
225 kbuild will build an ext2.o file for you out of the individual
226 parts and then link this into built-in.o, as you would expect.
228 --- 3.4 Objects which export symbols
230 No special notation is required in the makefiles for
231 modules exporting symbols.
233 --- 3.5 Library file goals - lib-y
235 Objects listed with obj-* are used for modules, or
236 combined in a built-in.o for that specific directory.
237 There is also the possibility to list objects that will
238 be included in a library, lib.a.
239 All objects listed with lib-y are combined in a single
240 library for that directory.
241 Objects that are listed in obj-y and additionally listed in
242 lib-y will not be included in the library, since they will
243 be accessible anyway.
244 For consistency, objects listed in lib-m will be included in lib.a.
246 Note that the same kbuild makefile may list files to be built-in
247 and to be part of a library. Therefore the same directory
248 may contain both a built-in.o and a lib.a file.
251 #arch/x86/lib/Makefile
254 This will create a library lib.a based on delay.o. For kbuild to
255 actually recognize that there is a lib.a being built, the directory
256 shall be listed in libs-y.
257 See also "6.4 List directories to visit when descending".
259 Use of lib-y is normally restricted to lib/ and arch/*/lib.
261 --- 3.6 Descending down in directories
263 A Makefile is only responsible for building objects in its own
264 directory. Files in subdirectories should be taken care of by
265 Makefiles in these subdirs. The build system will automatically
266 invoke make recursively in subdirectories, provided you let it know of
269 To do so, obj-y and obj-m are used.
270 ext2 lives in a separate directory, and the Makefile present in fs/
271 tells kbuild to descend down using the following assignment.
275 obj-$(CONFIG_EXT2_FS) += ext2/
277 If CONFIG_EXT2_FS is set to either 'y' (built-in) or 'm' (modular)
278 the corresponding obj- variable will be set, and kbuild will descend
279 down in the ext2 directory.
280 Kbuild only uses this information to decide that it needs to visit
281 the directory, it is the Makefile in the subdirectory that
282 specifies what is modular and what is built-in.
284 It is good practice to use a CONFIG_ variable when assigning directory
285 names. This allows kbuild to totally skip the directory if the
286 corresponding CONFIG_ option is neither 'y' nor 'm'.
288 --- 3.7 Compilation flags
290 ccflags-y, asflags-y and ldflags-y
291 These three flags apply only to the kbuild makefile in which they
292 are assigned. They are used for all the normal cc, as and ld
293 invocations happening during a recursive build.
294 Note: Flags with the same behaviour were previously named:
295 EXTRA_CFLAGS, EXTRA_AFLAGS and EXTRA_LDFLAGS.
296 They are still supported but their usage is deprecated.
298 ccflags-y specifies options for compiling with $(CC).
301 # drivers/acpi/Makefile
303 ccflags-$(CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG) += -DACPI_DEBUG_OUTPUT
305 This variable is necessary because the top Makefile owns the
306 variable $(KBUILD_CFLAGS) and uses it for compilation flags for the
309 asflags-y specifies options for assembling with $(AS).
312 #arch/sparc/kernel/Makefile
315 ldflags-y specifies options for linking with $(LD).
318 #arch/cris/boot/compressed/Makefile
319 ldflags-y += -T $(srctree)/$(src)/decompress_$(arch-y).lds
321 subdir-ccflags-y, subdir-asflags-y
322 The two flags listed above are similar to ccflags-y and asflags-y.
323 The difference is that the subdir- variants have effect for the kbuild
324 file where they are present and all subdirectories.
325 Options specified using subdir-* are added to the commandline before
326 the options specified using the non-subdir variants.
329 subdir-ccflags-y := -Werror
333 CFLAGS_$@ and AFLAGS_$@ only apply to commands in current
336 $(CFLAGS_$@) specifies per-file options for $(CC). The $@
337 part has a literal value which specifies the file that it is for.
340 # drivers/scsi/Makefile
341 CFLAGS_aha152x.o = -DAHA152X_STAT -DAUTOCONF
342 CFLAGS_gdth.o = # -DDEBUG_GDTH=2 -D__SERIAL__ -D__COM2__ \
345 These two lines specify compilation flags for aha152x.o and gdth.o.
347 $(AFLAGS_$@) is a similar feature for source files in assembly
351 # arch/arm/kernel/Makefile
352 AFLAGS_head.o := -DTEXT_OFFSET=$(TEXT_OFFSET)
353 AFLAGS_crunch-bits.o := -Wa,-mcpu=ep9312
354 AFLAGS_iwmmxt.o := -Wa,-mcpu=iwmmxt
357 --- 3.9 Dependency tracking
359 Kbuild tracks dependencies on the following:
360 1) All prerequisite files (both *.c and *.h)
361 2) CONFIG_ options used in all prerequisite files
362 3) Command-line used to compile target
364 Thus, if you change an option to $(CC) all affected files will
367 --- 3.10 Special Rules
369 Special rules are used when the kbuild infrastructure does
370 not provide the required support. A typical example is
371 header files generated during the build process.
372 Another example are the architecture-specific Makefiles which
373 need special rules to prepare boot images etc.
375 Special rules are written as normal Make rules.
376 Kbuild is not executing in the directory where the Makefile is
377 located, so all special rules shall provide a relative
378 path to prerequisite files and target files.
380 Two variables are used when defining special rules:
383 $(src) is a relative path which points to the directory
384 where the Makefile is located. Always use $(src) when
385 referring to files located in the src tree.
388 $(obj) is a relative path which points to the directory
389 where the target is saved. Always use $(obj) when
390 referring to generated files.
393 #drivers/scsi/Makefile
394 $(obj)/53c8xx_d.h: $(src)/53c7,8xx.scr $(src)/script_asm.pl
395 $(CPP) -DCHIP=810 - < $< | ... $(src)/script_asm.pl
397 This is a special rule, following the normal syntax
399 The target file depends on two prerequisite files. References
400 to the target file are prefixed with $(obj), references
401 to prerequisites are referenced with $(src) (because they are not
405 echoing information to user in a rule is often a good practice
406 but when execution "make -s" one does not expect to see any output
407 except for warnings/errors.
408 To support this kbuild defines $(kecho) which will echo out the
409 text following $(kecho) to stdout except if "make -s" is used.
412 #arch/blackfin/boot/Makefile
413 $(obj)/vmImage: $(obj)/vmlinux.gz
414 $(call if_changed,uimage)
415 @$(kecho) 'Kernel: $@ is ready'
418 --- 3.11 $(CC) support functions
420 The kernel may be built with several different versions of
421 $(CC), each supporting a unique set of features and options.
422 kbuild provides basic support to check for valid options for $(CC).
423 $(CC) is usually the gcc compiler, but other alternatives are
427 as-option is used to check if $(CC) -- when used to compile
428 assembler (*.S) files -- supports the given option. An optional
429 second option may be specified if the first option is not supported.
433 cflags-y += $(call as-option,-Wa$(comma)-isa=$(isa-y),)
435 In the above example, cflags-y will be assigned the option
436 -Wa$(comma)-isa=$(isa-y) if it is supported by $(CC).
437 The second argument is optional, and if supplied will be used
438 if first argument is not supported.
441 cc-ldoption is used to check if $(CC) when used to link object files
442 supports the given option. An optional second option may be
443 specified if first option are not supported.
446 #arch/x86/kernel/Makefile
447 vsyscall-flags += $(call cc-ldoption, -Wl$(comma)--hash-style=sysv)
449 In the above example, vsyscall-flags will be assigned the option
450 -Wl$(comma)--hash-style=sysv if it is supported by $(CC).
451 The second argument is optional, and if supplied will be used
452 if first argument is not supported.
455 as-instr checks if the assembler reports a specific instruction
456 and then outputs either option1 or option2
457 C escapes are supported in the test instruction
458 Note: as-instr-option uses KBUILD_AFLAGS for $(AS) options
461 cc-option is used to check if $(CC) supports a given option, and if
462 not supported to use an optional second option.
466 cflags-y += $(call cc-option,-march=pentium-mmx,-march=i586)
468 In the above example, cflags-y will be assigned the option
469 -march=pentium-mmx if supported by $(CC), otherwise -march=i586.
470 The second argument to cc-option is optional, and if omitted,
471 cflags-y will be assigned no value if first option is not supported.
472 Note: cc-option uses KBUILD_CFLAGS for $(CC) options
475 cc-option-yn is used to check if gcc supports a given option
476 and return 'y' if supported, otherwise 'n'.
480 biarch := $(call cc-option-yn, -m32)
481 aflags-$(biarch) += -a32
482 cflags-$(biarch) += -m32
484 In the above example, $(biarch) is set to y if $(CC) supports the -m32
485 option. When $(biarch) equals 'y', the expanded variables $(aflags-y)
486 and $(cflags-y) will be assigned the values -a32 and -m32,
488 Note: cc-option-yn uses KBUILD_CFLAGS for $(CC) options
491 gcc versions >= 3.0 changed the type of options used to specify
492 alignment of functions, loops etc. $(cc-option-align), when used
493 as prefix to the align options, will select the right prefix:
495 cc-option-align = -malign
497 cc-option-align = -falign
500 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(cc-option-align)-functions=4
502 In the above example, the option -falign-functions=4 is used for
503 gcc >= 3.00. For gcc < 3.00, -malign-functions=4 is used.
504 Note: cc-option-align uses KBUILD_CFLAGS for $(CC) options
507 cc-disable-warning checks if gcc supports a given warning and returns
508 the commandline switch to disable it. This special function is needed,
509 because gcc 4.4 and later accept any unknown -Wno-* option and only
510 warn about it if there is another warning in the source file.
513 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning, unused-but-set-variable)
515 In the above example, -Wno-unused-but-set-variable will be added to
516 KBUILD_CFLAGS only if gcc really accepts it.
519 cc-version returns a numerical version of the $(CC) compiler version.
520 The format is <major><minor> where both are two digits. So for example
521 gcc 3.41 would return 0341.
522 cc-version is useful when a specific $(CC) version is faulty in one
523 area, for example -mregparm=3 was broken in some gcc versions
524 even though the option was accepted by gcc.
528 cflags-y += $(shell \
529 if [ $(cc-version) -ge 0300 ] ; then \
530 echo "-mregparm=3"; fi ;)
532 In the above example, -mregparm=3 is only used for gcc version greater
533 than or equal to gcc 3.0.
536 cc-ifversion tests the version of $(CC) and equals the fourth parameter
537 if version expression is true, or the fifth (if given) if the version
541 #fs/reiserfs/Makefile
542 ccflags-y := $(call cc-ifversion, -lt, 0402, -O1)
544 In this example, ccflags-y will be assigned the value -O1 if the
545 $(CC) version is less than 4.2.
546 cc-ifversion takes all the shell operators:
547 -eq, -ne, -lt, -le, -gt, and -ge
548 The third parameter may be a text as in this example, but it may also
549 be an expanded variable or a macro.
552 cc-fullversion is useful when the exact version of gcc is needed.
553 One typical use-case is when a specific GCC version is broken.
554 cc-fullversion points out a more specific version than cc-version does.
557 #arch/powerpc/Makefile
558 $(Q)if test "$(cc-fullversion)" = "040200" ; then \
559 echo -n '*** GCC-4.2.0 cannot compile the 64-bit powerpc ' ; \
563 In this example for a specific GCC version the build will error out
564 explaining to the user why it stops.
567 cc-cross-prefix is used to check if there exists a $(CC) in path with
568 one of the listed prefixes. The first prefix where there exist a
569 prefix$(CC) in the PATH is returned - and if no prefix$(CC) is found
570 then nothing is returned.
571 Additional prefixes are separated by a single space in the
572 call of cc-cross-prefix.
573 This functionality is useful for architecture Makefiles that try
574 to set CROSS_COMPILE to well-known values but may have several
575 values to select between.
576 It is recommended only to try to set CROSS_COMPILE if it is a cross
577 build (host arch is different from target arch). And if CROSS_COMPILE
578 is already set then leave it with the old value.
582 ifneq ($(SUBARCH),$(ARCH))
583 ifeq ($(CROSS_COMPILE),)
584 CROSS_COMPILE := $(call cc-cross-prefix, m68k-linux-gnu-)
588 --- 3.12 $(LD) support functions
591 ld-option is used to check if $(LD) supports the supplied option.
592 ld-option takes two options as arguments.
593 The second argument is an optional option that can be used if the
594 first option is not supported by $(LD).
598 LDFLAGS_vmlinux += $(call ld-option, -X)
601 === 4 Host Program support
603 Kbuild supports building executables on the host for use during the
605 Two steps are required in order to use a host executable.
607 The first step is to tell kbuild that a host program exists. This is
608 done utilising the variable hostprogs-y.
610 The second step is to add an explicit dependency to the executable.
611 This can be done in two ways. Either add the dependency in a rule,
612 or utilise the variable $(always).
613 Both possibilities are described in the following.
615 --- 4.1 Simple Host Program
617 In some cases there is a need to compile and run a program on the
618 computer where the build is running.
619 The following line tells kbuild that the program bin2hex shall be
620 built on the build host.
623 hostprogs-y := bin2hex
625 Kbuild assumes in the above example that bin2hex is made from a single
626 c-source file named bin2hex.c located in the same directory as
629 --- 4.2 Composite Host Programs
631 Host programs can be made up based on composite objects.
632 The syntax used to define composite objects for host programs is
633 similar to the syntax used for kernel objects.
634 $(<executable>-objs) lists all objects used to link the final
638 #scripts/lxdialog/Makefile
639 hostprogs-y := lxdialog
640 lxdialog-objs := checklist.o lxdialog.o
642 Objects with extension .o are compiled from the corresponding .c
643 files. In the above example, checklist.c is compiled to checklist.o
644 and lxdialog.c is compiled to lxdialog.o.
645 Finally, the two .o files are linked to the executable, lxdialog.
646 Note: The syntax <executable>-y is not permitted for host-programs.
648 --- 4.3 Using C++ for host programs
650 kbuild offers support for host programs written in C++. This was
651 introduced solely to support kconfig, and is not recommended
655 #scripts/kconfig/Makefile
657 qconf-cxxobjs := qconf.o
659 In the example above the executable is composed of the C++ file
660 qconf.cc - identified by $(qconf-cxxobjs).
662 If qconf is composed of a mixture of .c and .cc files, then an
663 additional line can be used to identify this.
666 #scripts/kconfig/Makefile
668 qconf-cxxobjs := qconf.o
669 qconf-objs := check.o
671 --- 4.4 Controlling compiler options for host programs
673 When compiling host programs, it is possible to set specific flags.
674 The programs will always be compiled utilising $(HOSTCC) passed
675 the options specified in $(HOSTCFLAGS).
676 To set flags that will take effect for all host programs created
677 in that Makefile, use the variable HOST_EXTRACFLAGS.
680 #scripts/lxdialog/Makefile
681 HOST_EXTRACFLAGS += -I/usr/include/ncurses
683 To set specific flags for a single file the following construction
687 #arch/ppc64/boot/Makefile
688 HOSTCFLAGS_piggyback.o := -DKERNELBASE=$(KERNELBASE)
690 It is also possible to specify additional options to the linker.
693 #scripts/kconfig/Makefile
694 HOSTLOADLIBES_qconf := -L$(QTDIR)/lib
696 When linking qconf, it will be passed the extra option
699 --- 4.5 When host programs are actually built
701 Kbuild will only build host-programs when they are referenced
703 This is possible in two ways:
705 (1) List the prerequisite explicitly in a special rule.
708 #drivers/pci/Makefile
709 hostprogs-y := gen-devlist
710 $(obj)/devlist.h: $(src)/pci.ids $(obj)/gen-devlist
711 ( cd $(obj); ./gen-devlist ) < $<
713 The target $(obj)/devlist.h will not be built before
714 $(obj)/gen-devlist is updated. Note that references to
715 the host programs in special rules must be prefixed with $(obj).
718 When there is no suitable special rule, and the host program
719 shall be built when a makefile is entered, the $(always)
720 variable shall be used.
723 #scripts/lxdialog/Makefile
724 hostprogs-y := lxdialog
725 always := $(hostprogs-y)
727 This will tell kbuild to build lxdialog even if not referenced in
730 --- 4.6 Using hostprogs-$(CONFIG_FOO)
732 A typical pattern in a Kbuild file looks like this:
736 hostprogs-$(CONFIG_KALLSYMS) += kallsyms
738 Kbuild knows about both 'y' for built-in and 'm' for module.
739 So if a config symbol evaluates to 'm', kbuild will still build
740 the binary. In other words, Kbuild handles hostprogs-m exactly
741 like hostprogs-y. But only hostprogs-y is recommended to be used
742 when no CONFIG symbols are involved.
744 === 5 Kbuild clean infrastructure
746 "make clean" deletes most generated files in the obj tree where the kernel
747 is compiled. This includes generated files such as host programs.
748 Kbuild knows targets listed in $(hostprogs-y), $(hostprogs-m), $(always),
749 $(extra-y) and $(targets). They are all deleted during "make clean".
750 Files matching the patterns "*.[oas]", "*.ko", plus some additional files
751 generated by kbuild are deleted all over the kernel src tree when
752 "make clean" is executed.
754 Additional files can be specified in kbuild makefiles by use of $(clean-files).
758 clean-files := crc32table.h
760 When executing "make clean", the file "crc32table.h" will be deleted.
761 Kbuild will assume files to be in the same relative directory as the
762 Makefile, except if prefixed with $(objtree).
764 To delete a directory hierarchy use:
767 #scripts/package/Makefile
768 clean-dirs := $(objtree)/debian/
770 This will delete the directory debian in the toplevel directory, including all
773 To exclude certain files from make clean, use the $(no-clean-files) variable.
774 This is only a special case used in the top level Kbuild file:
778 no-clean-files := $(bounds-file) $(offsets-file)
780 Usually kbuild descends down in subdirectories due to "obj-* := dir/",
781 but in the architecture makefiles where the kbuild infrastructure
782 is not sufficient this sometimes needs to be explicit.
785 #arch/x86/boot/Makefile
786 subdir- := compressed/
788 The above assignment instructs kbuild to descend down in the
789 directory compressed/ when "make clean" is executed.
791 To support the clean infrastructure in the Makefiles that build the
792 final bootimage there is an optional target named archclean:
797 $(Q)$(MAKE) $(clean)=arch/x86/boot
799 When "make clean" is executed, make will descend down in arch/x86/boot,
800 and clean as usual. The Makefile located in arch/x86/boot/ may use
801 the subdir- trick to descend further down.
803 Note 1: arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile cannot use "subdir-", because that file is
804 included in the top level makefile, and the kbuild infrastructure
805 is not operational at that point.
807 Note 2: All directories listed in core-y, libs-y, drivers-y and net-y will
808 be visited during "make clean".
810 === 6 Architecture Makefiles
812 The top level Makefile sets up the environment and does the preparation,
813 before starting to descend down in the individual directories.
814 The top level makefile contains the generic part, whereas
815 arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile contains what is required to set up kbuild
816 for said architecture.
817 To do so, arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile sets up a number of variables and defines
820 When kbuild executes, the following steps are followed (roughly):
821 1) Configuration of the kernel => produce .config
822 2) Store kernel version in include/linux/version.h
823 3) Updating all other prerequisites to the target prepare:
824 - Additional prerequisites are specified in arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile
825 4) Recursively descend down in all directories listed in
826 init-* core* drivers-* net-* libs-* and build all targets.
827 - The values of the above variables are expanded in arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile.
828 5) All object files are then linked and the resulting file vmlinux is
829 located at the root of the obj tree.
830 The very first objects linked are listed in head-y, assigned by
831 arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile.
832 6) Finally, the architecture-specific part does any required post processing
833 and builds the final bootimage.
834 - This includes building boot records
835 - Preparing initrd images and the like
838 --- 6.1 Set variables to tweak the build to the architecture
840 LDFLAGS Generic $(LD) options
842 Flags used for all invocations of the linker.
843 Often specifying the emulation is sufficient.
847 LDFLAGS := -m elf_s390
848 Note: ldflags-y can be used to further customise
849 the flags used. See chapter 3.7.
851 LDFLAGS_MODULE Options for $(LD) when linking modules
853 LDFLAGS_MODULE is used to set specific flags for $(LD) when
854 linking the .ko files used for modules.
855 Default is "-r", for relocatable output.
857 LDFLAGS_vmlinux Options for $(LD) when linking vmlinux
859 LDFLAGS_vmlinux is used to specify additional flags to pass to
860 the linker when linking the final vmlinux image.
861 LDFLAGS_vmlinux uses the LDFLAGS_$@ support.
865 LDFLAGS_vmlinux := -e stext
867 OBJCOPYFLAGS objcopy flags
869 When $(call if_changed,objcopy) is used to translate a .o file,
870 the flags specified in OBJCOPYFLAGS will be used.
871 $(call if_changed,objcopy) is often used to generate raw binaries on
876 OBJCOPYFLAGS := -O binary
878 #arch/s390/boot/Makefile
879 $(obj)/image: vmlinux FORCE
880 $(call if_changed,objcopy)
882 In this example, the binary $(obj)/image is a binary version of
883 vmlinux. The usage of $(call if_changed,xxx) will be described later.
885 KBUILD_AFLAGS $(AS) assembler flags
887 Default value - see top level Makefile
888 Append or modify as required per architecture.
891 #arch/sparc64/Makefile
892 KBUILD_AFLAGS += -m64 -mcpu=ultrasparc
894 KBUILD_CFLAGS $(CC) compiler flags
896 Default value - see top level Makefile
897 Append or modify as required per architecture.
899 Often, the KBUILD_CFLAGS variable depends on the configuration.
902 #arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
903 cflags-$(CONFIG_X86_32) := -march=i386
904 cflags-$(CONFIG_X86_64) := -mcmodel=small
905 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(cflags-y)
907 Many arch Makefiles dynamically run the target C compiler to
908 probe supported options:
913 cflags-$(CONFIG_MPENTIUMII) += $(call cc-option,\
914 -march=pentium2,-march=i686)
916 # Disable unit-at-a-time mode ...
917 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-fno-unit-at-a-time)
921 The first example utilises the trick that a config option expands
922 to 'y' when selected.
924 KBUILD_AFLAGS_KERNEL $(AS) options specific for built-in
926 $(KBUILD_AFLAGS_KERNEL) contains extra C compiler flags used to compile
927 resident kernel code.
929 KBUILD_AFLAGS_MODULE Options for $(AS) when building modules
931 $(KBUILD_AFLAGS_MODULE) is used to add arch-specific options that
933 From commandline AFLAGS_MODULE shall be used (see kbuild.txt).
935 KBUILD_CFLAGS_KERNEL $(CC) options specific for built-in
937 $(KBUILD_CFLAGS_KERNEL) contains extra C compiler flags used to compile
938 resident kernel code.
940 KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE Options for $(CC) when building modules
942 $(KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE) is used to add arch-specific options that
944 From commandline CFLAGS_MODULE shall be used (see kbuild.txt).
946 KBUILD_LDFLAGS_MODULE Options for $(LD) when linking modules
948 $(KBUILD_LDFLAGS_MODULE) is used to add arch-specific options
949 used when linking modules. This is often a linker script.
950 From commandline LDFLAGS_MODULE shall be used (see kbuild.txt).
952 KBUILD_ARFLAGS Options for $(AR) when creating archives
954 $(KBUILD_ARFLAGS) set by the top level Makefile to "D" (deterministic
955 mode) if this option is supported by $(AR).
957 ARCH_CPPFLAGS, ARCH_AFLAGS, ARCH_CFLAGS Overrides the kbuild defaults
959 These variables are appended to the KBUILD_CPPFLAGS,
960 KBUILD_AFLAGS, and KBUILD_CFLAGS, respectively, after the
961 top-level Makefile has set any other flags. This provides a
962 means for an architecture to override the defaults.
965 --- 6.2 Add prerequisites to archheaders:
967 The archheaders: rule is used to generate header files that
968 may be installed into user space by "make header_install" or
969 "make headers_install_all". In order to support
970 "make headers_install_all", this target has to be able to run
971 on an unconfigured tree, or a tree configured for another
974 It is run before "make archprepare" when run on the
978 --- 6.3 Add prerequisites to archprepare:
980 The archprepare: rule is used to list prerequisites that need to be
981 built before starting to descend down in the subdirectories.
982 This is usually used for header files containing assembler constants.
986 archprepare: maketools
988 In this example, the file target maketools will be processed
989 before descending down in the subdirectories.
990 See also chapter XXX-TODO that describe how kbuild supports
991 generating offset header files.
994 --- 6.4 List directories to visit when descending
996 An arch Makefile cooperates with the top Makefile to define variables
997 which specify how to build the vmlinux file. Note that there is no
998 corresponding arch-specific section for modules; the module-building
999 machinery is all architecture-independent.
1002 head-y, init-y, core-y, libs-y, drivers-y, net-y
1004 $(head-y) lists objects to be linked first in vmlinux.
1005 $(libs-y) lists directories where a lib.a archive can be located.
1006 The rest list directories where a built-in.o object file can be
1009 $(init-y) objects will be located after $(head-y).
1010 Then the rest follows in this order:
1011 $(core-y), $(libs-y), $(drivers-y) and $(net-y).
1013 The top level Makefile defines values for all generic directories,
1014 and arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile only adds architecture-specific directories.
1017 #arch/sparc64/Makefile
1018 core-y += arch/sparc64/kernel/
1019 libs-y += arch/sparc64/prom/ arch/sparc64/lib/
1020 drivers-$(CONFIG_OPROFILE) += arch/sparc64/oprofile/
1023 --- 6.5 Architecture-specific boot images
1025 An arch Makefile specifies goals that take the vmlinux file, compress
1026 it, wrap it in bootstrapping code, and copy the resulting files
1027 somewhere. This includes various kinds of installation commands.
1028 The actual goals are not standardized across architectures.
1030 It is common to locate any additional processing in a boot/
1031 directory below arch/$(ARCH)/.
1033 Kbuild does not provide any smart way to support building a
1034 target specified in boot/. Therefore arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile shall
1035 call make manually to build a target in boot/.
1037 The recommended approach is to include shortcuts in
1038 arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile, and use the full path when calling down
1039 into the arch/$(ARCH)/boot/Makefile.
1043 boot := arch/x86/boot
1045 $(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=$(boot) $(boot)/$@
1047 "$(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=<dir>" is the recommended way to invoke
1048 make in a subdirectory.
1050 There are no rules for naming architecture-specific targets,
1051 but executing "make help" will list all relevant targets.
1052 To support this, $(archhelp) must be defined.
1057 echo '* bzImage - Image (arch/$(ARCH)/boot/bzImage)'
1060 When make is executed without arguments, the first goal encountered
1061 will be built. In the top level Makefile the first goal present
1063 An architecture shall always, per default, build a bootable image.
1064 In "make help", the default goal is highlighted with a '*'.
1065 Add a new prerequisite to all: to select a default goal different
1072 When "make" is executed without arguments, bzImage will be built.
1074 --- 6.6 Building non-kbuild targets
1078 extra-y specifies additional targets created in the current
1079 directory, in addition to any targets specified by obj-*.
1081 Listing all targets in extra-y is required for two purposes:
1082 1) Enable kbuild to check changes in command lines
1083 - When $(call if_changed,xxx) is used
1084 2) kbuild knows what files to delete during "make clean"
1087 #arch/x86/kernel/Makefile
1088 extra-y := head.o init_task.o
1090 In this example, extra-y is used to list object files that
1091 shall be built, but shall not be linked as part of built-in.o.
1094 --- 6.7 Commands useful for building a boot image
1096 Kbuild provides a few macros that are useful when building a
1101 if_changed is the infrastructure used for the following commands.
1104 target: source(s) FORCE
1105 $(call if_changed,ld/objcopy/gzip/...)
1107 When the rule is evaluated, it is checked to see if any files
1108 need an update, or the command line has changed since the last
1109 invocation. The latter will force a rebuild if any options
1110 to the executable have changed.
1111 Any target that utilises if_changed must be listed in $(targets),
1112 otherwise the command line check will fail, and the target will
1114 Assignments to $(targets) are without $(obj)/ prefix.
1115 if_changed may be used in conjunction with custom commands as
1116 defined in 6.8 "Custom kbuild commands".
1118 Note: It is a typical mistake to forget the FORCE prerequisite.
1119 Another common pitfall is that whitespace is sometimes
1120 significant; for instance, the below will fail (note the extra space
1122 target: source(s) FORCE
1123 #WRONG!# $(call if_changed, ld/objcopy/gzip/...)
1126 Link target. Often, LDFLAGS_$@ is used to set specific options to ld.
1129 Copy binary. Uses OBJCOPYFLAGS usually specified in
1130 arch/$(ARCH)/Makefile.
1131 OBJCOPYFLAGS_$@ may be used to set additional options.
1134 Compress target. Use maximum compression to compress target.
1137 #arch/x86/boot/Makefile
1138 LDFLAGS_bootsect := -Ttext 0x0 -s --oformat binary
1139 LDFLAGS_setup := -Ttext 0x0 -s --oformat binary -e begtext
1141 targets += setup setup.o bootsect bootsect.o
1142 $(obj)/setup $(obj)/bootsect: %: %.o FORCE
1143 $(call if_changed,ld)
1145 In this example, there are two possible targets, requiring different
1146 options to the linker. The linker options are specified using the
1147 LDFLAGS_$@ syntax - one for each potential target.
1148 $(targets) are assigned all potential targets, by which kbuild knows
1149 the targets and will:
1150 1) check for commandline changes
1151 2) delete target during make clean
1153 The ": %: %.o" part of the prerequisite is a shorthand that
1154 frees us from listing the setup.o and bootsect.o files.
1155 Note: It is a common mistake to forget the "targets :=" assignment,
1156 resulting in the target file being recompiled for no
1160 Create flattened device tree blob object suitable for linking
1161 into vmlinux. Device tree blobs linked into vmlinux are placed
1162 in an init section in the image. Platform code *must* copy the
1163 blob to non-init memory prior to calling unflatten_device_tree().
1165 To use this command, simply add *.dtb into obj-y or targets, or make
1166 some other target depend on %.dtb
1168 A central rule exists to create $(obj)/%.dtb from $(src)/%.dts;
1169 architecture Makefiles do no need to explicitly write out that rule.
1173 clean-files += *.dtb
1174 DTC_FLAGS ?= -p 1024
1176 --- 6.8 Custom kbuild commands
1178 When kbuild is executing with KBUILD_VERBOSE=0, then only a shorthand
1179 of a command is normally displayed.
1180 To enable this behaviour for custom commands kbuild requires
1181 two variables to be set:
1182 quiet_cmd_<command> - what shall be echoed
1183 cmd_<command> - the command to execute
1187 quiet_cmd_image = BUILD $@
1188 cmd_image = $(obj)/tools/build $(BUILDFLAGS) \
1189 $(obj)/vmlinux.bin > $@
1192 $(obj)/bzImage: $(obj)/vmlinux.bin $(obj)/tools/build FORCE
1193 $(call if_changed,image)
1194 @echo 'Kernel: $@ is ready'
1196 When updating the $(obj)/bzImage target, the line
1198 BUILD arch/x86/boot/bzImage
1200 will be displayed with "make KBUILD_VERBOSE=0".
1203 --- 6.9 Preprocessing linker scripts
1205 When the vmlinux image is built, the linker script
1206 arch/$(ARCH)/kernel/vmlinux.lds is used.
1207 The script is a preprocessed variant of the file vmlinux.lds.S
1208 located in the same directory.
1209 kbuild knows .lds files and includes a rule *lds.S -> *lds.
1212 #arch/x86/kernel/Makefile
1213 always := vmlinux.lds
1216 export CPPFLAGS_vmlinux.lds += -P -C -U$(ARCH)
1218 The assignment to $(always) is used to tell kbuild to build the
1220 The assignment to $(CPPFLAGS_vmlinux.lds) tells kbuild to use the
1221 specified options when building the target vmlinux.lds.
1223 When building the *.lds target, kbuild uses the variables:
1224 KBUILD_CPPFLAGS : Set in top-level Makefile
1225 cppflags-y : May be set in the kbuild makefile
1226 CPPFLAGS_$(@F) : Target-specific flags.
1227 Note that the full filename is used in this
1230 The kbuild infrastructure for *lds files is used in several
1231 architecture-specific files.
1233 --- 6.10 Generic header files
1235 The directory include/asm-generic contains the header files
1236 that may be shared between individual architectures.
1237 The recommended approach how to use a generic header file is
1238 to list the file in the Kbuild file.
1239 See "7.4 generic-y" for further info on syntax etc.
1241 --- 6.11 Post-link pass
1243 If the file arch/xxx/Makefile.postlink exists, this makefile
1244 will be invoked for post-link objects (vmlinux and modules.ko)
1245 for architectures to run post-link passes on. Must also handle
1248 This pass runs after kallsyms generation. If the architecture
1249 needs to modify symbol locations, rather than manipulate the
1250 kallsyms, it may be easier to add another postlink target for
1251 .tmp_vmlinux? targets to be called from link-vmlinux.sh.
1253 For example, powerpc uses this to check relocation sanity of
1254 the linked vmlinux file.
1256 === 7 Kbuild syntax for exported headers
1258 The kernel includes a set of headers that is exported to userspace.
1259 Many headers can be exported as-is but other headers require a
1260 minimal pre-processing before they are ready for user-space.
1261 The pre-processing does:
1262 - drop kernel-specific annotations
1263 - drop include of compiler.h
1264 - drop all sections that are kernel internal (guarded by ifdef __KERNEL__)
1266 Each relevant directory contains a file name "Kbuild" which specifies the
1267 headers to be exported.
1268 See subsequent chapter for the syntax of the Kbuild file.
1272 header-y specifies header files to be exported.
1275 #include/linux/Kbuild
1277 header-y += aio_abi.h
1279 The convention is to list one file per line and
1280 preferably in alphabetic order.
1282 header-y also specifies which subdirectories to visit.
1283 A subdirectory is identified by a trailing '/' which
1284 can be seen in the example above for the usb subdirectory.
1286 Subdirectories are visited before their parent directories.
1290 genhdr-y specifies generated files to be exported.
1291 Generated files are special as they need to be looked
1292 up in another directory when doing 'make O=...' builds.
1295 #include/linux/Kbuild
1296 genhdr-y += version.h
1298 --- 7.3 destination-y
1300 When an architecture has a set of exported headers that needs to be
1301 exported to a different directory destination-y is used.
1302 destination-y specifies the destination directory for all exported
1303 headers in the file where it is present.
1306 #arch/xtensa/platforms/s6105/include/platform/Kbuild
1307 destination-y := include/linux
1309 In the example above all exported headers in the Kbuild file
1310 will be located in the directory "include/linux" when exported.
1314 If an architecture uses a verbatim copy of a header from
1315 include/asm-generic then this is listed in the file
1316 arch/$(ARCH)/include/asm/Kbuild like this:
1319 #arch/x86/include/asm/Kbuild
1320 generic-y += termios.h
1323 During the prepare phase of the build a wrapper include
1324 file is generated in the directory:
1326 arch/$(ARCH)/include/generated/asm
1328 When a header is exported where the architecture uses
1329 the generic header a similar wrapper is generated as part
1330 of the set of exported headers in the directory:
1334 The generated wrapper will in both cases look like the following:
1337 #include <asm-generic/termios.h>
1341 If an architecture generates other header files alongside generic-y
1342 wrappers, and not included in genhdr-y, then generated-y specifies
1345 This prevents them being treated as stale asm-generic wrappers and
1349 #arch/x86/include/asm/Kbuild
1350 generated-y += syscalls_32.h
1352 === 8 Kbuild Variables
1354 The top Makefile exports the following variables:
1356 VERSION, PATCHLEVEL, SUBLEVEL, EXTRAVERSION
1358 These variables define the current kernel version. A few arch
1359 Makefiles actually use these values directly; they should use
1360 $(KERNELRELEASE) instead.
1362 $(VERSION), $(PATCHLEVEL), and $(SUBLEVEL) define the basic
1363 three-part version number, such as "2", "4", and "0". These three
1364 values are always numeric.
1366 $(EXTRAVERSION) defines an even tinier sublevel for pre-patches
1367 or additional patches. It is usually some non-numeric string
1368 such as "-pre4", and is often blank.
1372 $(KERNELRELEASE) is a single string such as "2.4.0-pre4", suitable
1373 for constructing installation directory names or showing in
1374 version strings. Some arch Makefiles use it for this purpose.
1378 This variable defines the target architecture, such as "i386",
1379 "arm", or "sparc". Some kbuild Makefiles test $(ARCH) to
1380 determine which files to compile.
1382 By default, the top Makefile sets $(ARCH) to be the same as the
1383 host system architecture. For a cross build, a user may
1384 override the value of $(ARCH) on the command line:
1391 This variable defines a place for the arch Makefiles to install
1392 the resident kernel image and System.map file.
1393 Use this for architecture-specific install targets.
1395 INSTALL_MOD_PATH, MODLIB
1397 $(INSTALL_MOD_PATH) specifies a prefix to $(MODLIB) for module
1398 installation. This variable is not defined in the Makefile but
1399 may be passed in by the user if desired.
1401 $(MODLIB) specifies the directory for module installation.
1402 The top Makefile defines $(MODLIB) to
1403 $(INSTALL_MOD_PATH)/lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE). The user may
1404 override this value on the command line if desired.
1408 If this variable is specified, it will cause modules to be stripped
1409 after they are installed. If INSTALL_MOD_STRIP is '1', then the
1410 default option --strip-debug will be used. Otherwise, the
1411 INSTALL_MOD_STRIP value will be used as the option(s) to the strip
1415 === 9 Makefile language
1417 The kernel Makefiles are designed to be run with GNU Make. The Makefiles
1418 use only the documented features of GNU Make, but they do use many
1421 GNU Make supports elementary list-processing functions. The kernel
1422 Makefiles use a novel style of list building and manipulation with few
1425 GNU Make has two assignment operators, ":=" and "=". ":=" performs
1426 immediate evaluation of the right-hand side and stores an actual string
1427 into the left-hand side. "=" is like a formula definition; it stores the
1428 right-hand side in an unevaluated form and then evaluates this form each
1429 time the left-hand side is used.
1431 There are some cases where "=" is appropriate. Usually, though, ":="
1432 is the right choice.
1436 Original version made by Michael Elizabeth Chastain, <mailto:mec@shout.net>
1437 Updates by Kai Germaschewski <kai@tp1.ruhr-uni-bochum.de>
1438 Updates by Sam Ravnborg <sam@ravnborg.org>
1439 Language QA by Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@gmx.de>
1443 - Describe how kbuild supports shipped files with _shipped.
1444 - Generating offset header files.
1445 - Add more variables to section 7?