Build-Time Hooks

A package specifies custom commands in its pkg.yml file. There are three types of commands:

  1. pre_build_cmds (run before the build)

  2. pre_link_cmds (run after compilation, before linking)

  3. post_link_cmds (run after linking)

Example

Example (apps/blinky/pkg.yml):

pkg.pre_build_cmds:
    scripts/pre_build1.sh: 100
    scripts/pre_build2.sh: 200

pkg.pre_link_cmds:
    scripts/pre_link.sh: 500

pkg.post_link_cmds:
    scripts/post_link.sh: 100

For each command, the string on the left specifies the command to run. The number on the right indicates the command’s relative ordering. All paths are relative to the project root.

When newt builds this example, it performs the following sequence:

  • scripts/pre_build1.sh

  • scripts/pre_build2.sh

  • [compile]

  • scripts/pre_link.sh

  • [link]

  • scripts/post_link.sh

If other packages specify custom commands, those commands would also be executed during the above sequence. For example, if another package specifies a pre build command with an ordering of 150, that command would run immediately after pre_build1.sh. In the case of a tie, the commands are run in lexicographic order (by path).

All commands are run from the project’s base directory. In the above example, the scripts directory is a sibling of targets.

Custom Build Inputs

A custom pre-build or pre-link command can produce files that get fed into the current build.

Pre-build commands can generate any of the following:

  1. .c files for newt to compile.

  2. .a files for newt to link.

  3. .h files that any package can include.

Pre-link commands can only generate .a files.

.c and .a files should be written to the $MYNEWT_USER_SRC_DIR environment variable (defined by newt), or any subdirectory within.

.h files should be written to $MYNEWT_USER_INCLUDE_DIR. The directory structure used here is directly reflected by the includer. E.g., if a script writes to $MYNEWT_USER_INCLUDE_DIR/foo/bar.h, then a source file can include this header with:

#include "foo/bar.h"

Details

Environment Variables

In addition to the usual environment variables defined for debug and download scripts, newt defines the following env vars for custom commands:

Environment variable

Description

Notes

MYNEWT_APP_BIN_DIR

The directory where the current target’s binary gets written.

MYNEWT_PKG_BIN_ARCHIVE

The path to the current package’s .a file.

MYNEWT_PKG_BIN_DIR

The directory where the current package’s .o and .a files get written.

MYNEWT_PKG_NAME

The full name of the current package.

MYNEWT_USER_INCLUDE_DIR

Path where globally-accessible headers get written.

Pre-build only.

MYNEWT_USER_SRC_DIR

Path where build inputs get written.

Pre-build and pre-link only.

MYNEWT_USER_WORK_DIR

Shared temp directory; used for communication between commands.

These environment variables are defined for each process that a custom command runs in. They are not defined in the newt process itself. So, the following snippet will not produce the expected output:

BAD Example (apps/blinky/pkg.yml):

pkg.pre_cmds:
    'echo $MYNEWT_USER_SRC_DIR': 100

You can execute sh here instead if you need access to the environment variables, but it is probably saner to just use a script.

Detect Changes in Custom Build Inputs

To avoid unnecessary rebuilds, newt detects if custom build inputs have changed since the previous build. If none of the inputs have changed, then they do not get rebuilt. If any of them have changed, they all get rebuilt.

The $MYNEWT_USER_[...] directories are actually temp directories. After the pre-build commands have run, newt compares the contents of the temp directory with those of the actual user directory. If any differences are detected, newt replaces the user directory with the temp directory, triggering a rebuild of its contents. The same procedure is used for pre-link commands.

Paths

Custom build inputs get written to the following directories:

  • bin/targets/<target>/user/pre_build/src

  • bin/targets/<target>/user/pre_build/include

  • bin/targets/<target>/user/pre_link/src

Custom commands should not write to these directories. They should use the $MYNEWT_USER_[...] environment variables instead.