2.3.2. Running Specific Tasks

Any given package consists of a set of tasks. The standard BitBake behavior in most cases is: do_fetch, do_unpack, do_patch, do_configure, do_compile, do_install, do_package, do_package_write, and do_build. The default task is do_build and any tasks on which it depends build first. Some tasks, such as do_devshell, are not part of the default build chain. If you wish to run a task that is not part of the default build chain, you can use the -c option in BitBake. Here is an example:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c devshell
            

If you wish to rerun a task, use the -f force option. For example, the following sequence forces recompilation after changing files in the work directory.

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
               .
               .
        [make some changes to the source code in the work directory]
               .
               .
     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c compile -f
     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
            

This sequence first builds and then recompiles matchbox-desktop. The last command reruns all tasks (basically the packaging tasks) after the compile. BitBake recognizes that the do_compile task was rerun and therefore understands that the other tasks also need to be run again.

You can view a list of tasks in a given package by running the do_listtasks task as follows:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c listtasks
            

The results appear as output to the console and are also in the file ${WORKDIR}/temp/log.do_listtasks.