build7

Overview

The sources for the FreeBSD system and its applications are contained in three directories, normally:

/usr/src

“base system”, loosely defined as everything required to build the system to a useful state

/usr/doc

system documentation, excluding manual pages

/usr/ports

third-party software, with a consistent interface for building and installing them; see ports(7)

These directories may be initially empty or non-existent until updated with Git (devel/git from the FreeBSD Ports Collection).

The make(1) command is used in each of these directories to build and install the things in that directory. Issuing the make(1) command in any directory issues the make(1) command recursively in all subdirectories. With no target specified, the items in the directories are built and no further action is taken.

A source tree is allowed to be read-only. As described in make(1), objects are usually built in a separate object directory hierarchy specified by the environment variable MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX, or under /usr/obj if variable MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX is not set. The canonical object directory is described in the documentation for the buildworld target below.

The build may be controlled by defining make(1) variables described in the ENVIRONMENT section below, and by the variables documented in make.conf(5).

The default components included in the build are specified in the file /etc/src.conf in the source tree. To override the default file, include the SRCCONF option in the make steps, pointing to a custom src.conf file. For more information see src.conf(5).

The following list provides the names and actions for the targets supported by the build system:

analyze

Run Clang static analyzer against all objects and present output on stdout.

check

Run tests for a given subdirectory. The default directory used is ${.OBJDIR}, but the check directory can be changed with ${CHECKDIR}.

checkworld

Run the FreeBSD test suite on installed world.

clean

Remove any files created during the build process.

cleandepend

Remove the ${.OBJDIR}/${DEPENDFILE}* files generated by prior “make” and “make depend” steps.

cleandir

Remove the canonical object directory if it exists, or perform actions equivalent to “make clean cleandepend” if it does not. This target will also remove an obj link in ${.CURDIR} if that exists.

It is advisable to run “make cleandir” twice: the first invocation will remove the canonical object directory and the second one will clean up ${.CURDIR}.

depend

Generate a list of build dependencies in file ${.OBJDIR}/${DEPENDFILE}. Per-object dependencies are generated at build time and stored in ${.OBJDIR}/${DEPENDFILE}.${OBJ}.

install

Install the results of the build to the appropriate location in the installation directory hierarchy specified in variable DESTDIR.

obj

Create the canonical object directory associated with the current directory.

objlink

Create a symbolic link to the canonical object directory in ${.CURDIR}.

tags

Generate a tags file using the program specified in the make(1) variable CTAGS. The build system supports ctags(1) and GNU Global.

The other supported targets under directory /usr/src are:

buildenv

Spawn an interactive shell with environment variables set up for building the system or individual components. For cross-building the target architecture needs to be specified with make(1) variables TARGET_ARCH and TARGET.

This target is only useful after a complete toolchain (including the compiler, linker, assembler, headers and libraries) has been built; see the toolchain target below.

BUILDENV_SHELL, which defaults to /bin/sh, is executed. This can be set to a command that does something in this build environment, like cross build an application. If that application has dependencies, though, the devel/poudriere package or port provides a more generic solution.

buildenvvars

Print the shell variables that are set for a buildenv environment and exit.

buildworld

Build everything but the kernel, configure files in etc, and release. The object directory can be changed from the default /usr/obj by setting the MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX make(1) variable. The actual build location prefix used depends on the WITH_UNIFIED_OBJDIR option from src.conf(5). If enabled it is ${MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX}${.CURDIR}/${TARGET}.${TARGET_ARCH} for all builds. If disabled it is ${MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX}${.CURDIR} for native builds, and ${MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX}/${TARGET}.${TARGET_ARCH}${.CURDIR} for cross builds and native builds with variable CROSS_BUILD_TESTING set.

cleankernel

Attempts to clean up targets built by a preceding buildkernel, or similar step, built from the same source directory and KERNCONF.

cleanworld

Attempt to clean up targets built by a preceding buildworld, or similar step, built from this source directory.

cleanuniverse

When WITH_UNIFIED_OBJDIR is enabled, attempt to clean up targets built by a preceding buildworld, universe, or similar step, for any architecture built from this source directory.

distributeworld

Distribute everything compiled by a preceding buildworld step. Files are placed in the directory hierarchy specified by make(1) variable DISTDIR. This target is used while building a release; see release(7).

native-xtools

This target builds a cross-toolchain for the given TARGET and TARGET_ARCH, as well as a select list of static userland tools for the host system. This is intended to be used in a jail where QEMU is used to improve performance by avoiding emulating binaries that do not need to be emulated. TARGET and TARGET_ARCH should be defined.

native-xtools-install

Installs the results to ${DESTDIR}/${NXTP} where NXTP defaults to nxb-bin. TARGET and TARGET_ARCH must be defined.

packages

Create a freebsd-base(7) package repository containing packages that can be used to install or upgrade the base system. The repository is created in the object directory, under ${REPODIR}/${PKG_ABI} where REPODIR is the base directory where the repository will be created, and PKG_ABI is the pkg(7) ABI for the build target, for example, /usr/obj/${SRCDIR}/repo/FreeBSD:15:amd64.

packageworld

Archive the results of distributeworld, placing the results in DISTDIR. This target is used while building a release(7) and is unrelated to building freebsd-base(7) packages.

installworld

Install everything built by a preceding buildworld step into the directory hierarchy pointed to by make(1) variable DESTDIR.

If installing onto an NFS file system and running make(1) with the -j option, make sure that rpc.lockd(8) is running on both client and server. See rc.conf(5) on how to make it start at boot time.

toolchain

Create the build toolchain needed to build the rest of the system. For cross-architecture builds, this step creates a cross-toolchain.

universe

For each architecture, execute a buildworld followed by a buildkernel for all kernels for that architecture, including LINT. This command takes a long time.

kernels

Like universe with WITHOUT_WORLDS defined so only the kernels for each architecture are built.

worlds

Like universe with WITHOUT_KERNELS defined so only the worlds for each architecture are built.

targets

Print a list of supported TARGET / TARGET_ARCH pairs for world and kernel targets.

tinderbox

Execute the same targets as universe. In addition print a summary of all failed targets at the end and exit with an error if there were any.

toolchains

Create a build toolchain for each architecture supported by the build system.

xdev

Builds and installs a cross-toolchain and sysroot for the given TARGET and TARGET_ARCH. The sysroot contains target library and headers. The target is an alias for xdev-build and xdev-install. The location of the files installed can be controlled with DESTDIR. The target location in DESTDIR is ${DESTDIR}/${XDTP} where XDTP defaults to /usr/${XDDIR} and XDDIR defaults to ${TARGET_ARCH}-freebsd.

update-packages

Create or update the freebsd-base(7) package repository for the base system.

• If an old repository is being updated, then packages whose contents have not changed since the previous version will be copied into the new repository to avoid needless updating of the version number.

• If PKG_REPO_SIGNING_KEY is defined, the repo will be signed according to pkg-repo(8).

xdev-build

Builds for the xdev target.

xdev-install

Installs the files for the xdev target.

xdev-links

Installs autoconf-style symlinks to ${DESTDIR}/usr/bin pointing into the xdev toolchain in ${DESTDIR}/${XDTP}.

Kernel specific build targets in /usr/src are:

buildkernel

Rebuild the kernel and the kernel modules. The object directory can be changed from the default /usr/obj by setting the MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX make(1) variable.

installkernel

Install the kernel and the kernel modules to directory ${DESTDIR}/boot/kernel, renaming any pre-existing directory with this name to kernel.old if it contained the currently running kernel. The target directory under ${DESTDIR} may be modified using the INSTKERNNAME or KODIR make(1) variables.

distributekernel

Install the kernel to the directory ${DISTDIR}/kernel/boot/kernel. This target is used while building a release; see release(7).

packagekernel

Archive the results of distributekernel, placing the results in DISTDIR. This target is used while building a release(7) and is unrelated to building freebsd-base(7) packages.

kernel

Equivalent to buildkernel followed by installkernel

kernel-toolchain

Rebuild the tools needed for kernel compilation. Use this if you did not do a buildworld first.

reinstallkernel

Reinstall the kernel and the kernel modules, overwriting the contents of the target directory. As with the installkernel target, the target directory can be specified using the make(1) variable INSTKERNNAME.

Convenience targets for cleaning up the install destination directory denoted by variable DESTDIR include:

check-old

Print a list of old files and directories in the system.

check-old-libs

Print a list of obsolete base system libraries.

delete-old

Delete obsolete base system files and directories interactively. When -DBATCH_DELETE_OLD_FILES is specified at the command line, the delete operation will be non-interactive. The variables DESTDIR, TARGET_ARCH and TARGET should be set as with “make installworld”.

delete-old-libs

Delete obsolete base system libraries interactively. This target should only be used if no third party software uses these libraries. When -DBATCH_DELETE_OLD_FILES is specified at the command line, the delete operation will be non-interactive. The variables DESTDIR, TARGET_ARCH and TARGET should be set as with “make installworld”.

Environment

Variables that influence all builds include:

DEBUG_FLAGS

Defines a set of debugging flags that will be used to build all userland binaries under /usr/src. When DEBUG_FLAGS is defined, the install and installworld targets install binaries from the current MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX without stripping, so that debugging information is retained in the installed binaries.

DESTDIR

The directory hierarchy prefix where built objects will be installed. If not set, DESTDIR defaults to the empty string. If set, DESTDIR must specify an absolute path.

MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX

Defines the prefix for directory names in the tree of built objects. Defaults to /usr/obj if not defined. This variable should only be set in the environment or /etc/src-env.conf and not via /etc/make.conf or /etc/src.conf or the command line. MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX must specify an absolute path.

WITHOUT_WERROR

If defined, compiler warnings will not cause the build to halt, even if the makefile says otherwise.

WITH_CTF

If defined, the build process will run the DTrace CTF conversion tools on built objects.

Additionally, builds in /usr/src are influenced by the following make(1) variables:

CROSS_TOOLCHAIN

Requests use of an external toolchain to build either the world or kernel. This value of this variable can either be the full path to a file, or the base name of a file in ${LOCALBASE}/share/toolchains. The file should be a make file which sets variables to request an external toolchain such as XCC.

External toolchains are available in ports for both LLVM and GCC/binutils. For external toolchains available in ports, CROSS_TOOLCHAIN should be set to the name of the package. LLVM toolchain packages use the name llvm<major version>. GCC toolchains provide separate packages for each architecture and use the name ${MACHINE_ARCH}-gcc<major version>.

INSTKERNNAME

If set, specify an alternative name to build and install for the various kernel make targets. Defaults to “kernel”.

KERNCONF

Specify one or more space-separated kernels to build and install for the various kernel make targets. If multiple kernels are specified, the first listed kernel installs to /boot/${INSTKERNNAME}, and subsequent kernels install to /boot/${INSTKERNNAME}.NAME.

If unset, it defaults to GENERIC, except on POWER architectures, where it defaults to GENERIC64 for powerpc64, and GENERIC64LE for powerpc64le.

KERNBUILDDIR

Overrides the default directory to get all the opt_*.h files for building a kernel module. Useful for stand-alone modules that depend on config(8) options. Automatically set for modules built with a kernel.

KERNCONFDIR

Overrides the directory in which KERNCONF and any files included by KERNCONF should be found. Defaults to sys/${ARCH}/conf.

KERNFAST

If set, the build target buildkernel defaults to setting NO_KERNELCLEAN, NO_KERNELCONFIG, and NO_KERNELOBJ. When set to a value other than 1 then KERNCONF is set to the value of KERNFAST.

KODIR

If set, this variable specifies an alternative directory to install the kernel.

LOCAL_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the everything target. The directories are built in parallel with each other, and with the base system directories. Insert a .WAIT directive at the beginning of the LOCAL_DIRS list to ensure all base system directories are built first. .WAIT may also be used as needed elsewhere within the list.

LOCAL_ITOOLS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional tools that are used by the installworld and distributeworld targets.

LOCAL_LIB_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the libraries target. The directories are built in parallel with each other, and with the base system libraries. Insert a .WAIT directive at the beginning of the LOCAL_DIRS list to ensure all base system libraries are built first. .WAIT may also be used as needed elsewhere within the list.

LOCAL_MTREE

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional mtrees relative to the root of the source tree to use as part of the hierarchy target.

LOCAL_LEGACY_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the legacy target.

LOCAL_BSTOOL_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the bootstrap-tools target.

LOCAL_TOOL_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the build-tools target.

LOCAL_XTOOL_DIRS

If set, this variable supplies a list of additional directories relative to the root of the source tree to build as part of the cross-tools target.

OBJROOT

The object directory root is defined as ${OBJDIR}/${SRCDIR}/. See share/mk/src.sys.obj.mk.

PKG_FORMAT

Specify a package compression format when building freebsd-base(7) packages. Default: ‘tzst’. Consider using ‘tar’ to disable compression. Accepted options are documented in the -f description of pkg-create(8).

PORTS_MODULES

A list of ports with kernel modules that should be built and installed as part of the buildkernel and installkernel process. This is currently incompatible with building freebsd-base(7) packages. Each port must be specified as category/port[@flavor], e.g.

PORTS_MODULES=graphics/gpu-firmware-intel-kmod@kabylake
PORTS_MODULES+=graphics/drm-66-kmod

LOCAL_MODULES

A list of external kernel modules that should be built and installed as part of the buildkernel and installkernel process. Defaults to the list of sub-directories of LOCAL_MODULES_DIR.

LOCAL_MODULES_DIR

The directory in which to search for the kernel modules specified by LOCAL_MODULES. Each kernel module should consist of a directory containing a makefile. Defaults to ${LOCALBASE}/sys/modules.

SRCCONF

Specify a file to override the default /etc/src.conf. The src.conf file controls the components to build. See src.conf(5)

REPODIR

The root directory used to create the package repository for building packages(7). Defaults to ${OBJROOT}/repo/. This can also be set in src-env.conf(5).

STRIPBIN

Command to use at install time when stripping binaries. Be sure to add any additional tools required to run STRIPBIN to the LOCAL_ITOOLS make(1) variable before running the distributeworld or installworld targets. See install(1) for more details.

SUBDIR_OVERRIDE

Override the default list of sub-directories and only build the sub-directory named in this variable. If combined with buildworld then all libraries and includes, and some of the build tools will still build as well. Specifying -DNO_LIBS, and -DWORLDFAST will only build the specified directory as was done historically. When combined with buildworld it is necessary to override LOCAL_LIB_DIRS with any custom directories containing libraries. This allows building a subset of the system in the same way as buildworld does using its sysroot handling. This variable can also be useful when debugging failed builds.

make some-target SUBDIR_OVERRIDE=foo/bar

SYSDIR

Specify the location of the kernel source to override the default /usr/src/sys. The kernel source is located in the sys subdirectory of the source tree checked out from the src.git repository.

TARGET

The target hardware platform. This is analogous to the “uname -m” output. This is necessary to cross-build some target architectures. For example, cross-building for ARM64 machines requires TARGET_ARCH=aarch64 and TARGET=arm64. If not set, TARGET defaults to the current hardware platform, unless TARGET_ARCH is also set, in which case it defaults to the appropriate value for that architecture.

TARGET_ARCH

The target machine processor architecture. This is analogous to the “uname -p” output. Set this to cross-build for a different architecture. If not set, TARGET_ARCH defaults to the current machine architecture, unless TARGET is also set, in which case it defaults to the appropriate value for that platform. Typically, one only needs to set TARGET.

Builds under directory /usr/src are also influenced by defining one or more of the following symbols, using the -D option of make(1):

LOADER_DEFAULT_INTERP

Defines what interpreter the default loader program will have. Valid values include “4th”, “lua”, and “simp”. This creates the default link for /boot/loader to the loader with that interpreter. It also determines what interpreter is compiled into userboot.

NO_CLEANDIR

If set, the build targets that clean parts of the object tree use the equivalent of “make clean” instead of “make cleandir”.

NO_CLEAN

If set, no object tree files are cleaned at all. This is the default when WITH_META_MODE is used with filemon(4) loaded. See src.conf(5) for more details. Setting NO_CLEAN implies NO_KERNELCLEAN, so when NO_CLEAN is set no kernel objects are cleaned either.

NO_CTF

If set, the build process does not run the DTrace CTF conversion tools on built objects.

NO_SHARE

If set, the build does not descend into the /usr/src/share subdirectory (i.e., manual pages, locale data files, timezone data files and other /usr/src/share files will not be rebuild from their sources).

NO_KERNELCLEAN

If set, the build process does not run “make clean” as part of the buildkernel target.

NO_KERNELCONFIG

If set, the build process does not run config(8) as part of the buildkernel target.

NO_KERNELOBJ

If set, the build process does not run “make obj” as part of the buildkernel target.

NO_LIBS

If set, the libraries phase will be skipped.

NO_OBJWALK

If set, no object directories will be created. This should only be used if object directories were created in a previous build and no new directories are connected.

UNIVERSE_TOOLCHAIN

Requests use of the toolchain built as part of the universe target as an external toolchain.

WORLDFAST

If set, the build target buildworld defaults to setting NO_CLEAN, NO_OBJWALK, and will skip most bootstrap phases. It will only bootstrap libraries and build all of userland. This option should be used only when it is known that none of the bootstrap needs changed and that no new directories have been connected to the build.

Builds under directory /usr/doc are influenced by the following make(1) variables:

DOC_LANG

If set, restricts the documentation build to the language subdirectories specified as its content. The default action is to build documentation for all languages.

Builds using the universe and related targets are influenced by the following make(1) variables:

JFLAG

Pass the value of this variable to each make(1) invocation used to build worlds and kernels. This can be used to enable multiple jobs within a single architecture's build while still building each architecture serially.

MAKE_JUST_KERNELS

Only build kernels for each supported architecture.

MAKE_JUST_WORLDS

Only build worlds for each supported architecture.

WITHOUT_WORLDS

Only build kernels for each supported architecture.

WITHOUT_KERNELS

Only build worlds for each supported architecture.

UNIVERSE_LOGDIR

Write all build logs to this directory for each supported architecture. When invoking tinderbox, also write the summary of all failed targets to this directory.

UNIVERSE_TARGET

Execute the specified make(1) target for each supported architecture instead of the default action of building a world and one or more kernels. This variable implies WITHOUT_KERNELS.

USE_GCC_TOOLCHAINS

Use external GCC toolchains to build the requested targets. If the required toolchain package for a supported architecture is not installed, the build for that architecture is skipped.

A specific version of GCC can be used by setting the value of this variable to the desired version (for example, “gcc14”); otherwise a default version of GCC is used.

TARGETS

Only build the listed targets instead of each supported architecture.

EXTRA_TARGETS

In addition to the supported architectures, build the semi-supported architectures. A semi-supported architecture has build support in the FreeBSD tree, but receives significantly less testing and is generally for fringe uses that do not have a wide appeal.

Files

/usr/doc/Makefile

/usr/doc/share/mk/doc.project.mk

/usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk

/usr/ports/Mk/bsd.sites.mk

/usr/src/Makefile

/usr/src/Makefile.inc1

make(1) infrastructure for each tree

/usr/ports/UPDATING

/usr/src/UPDATING

notable changes in each tree

/usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf

example make.conf(5)

/etc/src.conf

src build configuration, see src.conf(5)

Examples

This section describes best practices for common situations. When manual intervention is necessary, it will be mentioned in UPDATING. Make sure you have full backups before proceeding!

git clone https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git /usr/ports
cat << EOF >> /etc/src.conf
PORTS_MODULES+=graphics/drm-kmod emulators/virtualbox-ose-kmod
EOF

git clone https://git.FreeBSD.org/src.git /usr/src
cd /usr/src
make buildworld buildkernel
make installkernel
shutdown -r now

cd /usr/src
etcupdate -p
make installworld
etcupdate
make delete-old
shutdown -r now

make delete-old-libs

cd /usr/src
cat << EOF > sys/amd64/conf/MYKERNEL
include GENERIC
ident MYKERNEL
nodevice sound
EOF

make kernel-toolchain
make -DALWAYS_CHECK_MAKE buildkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
make -DALWAYS_CHECK_MAKE installkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
shutdown -r now

make buildworld buildkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
make update-packages KERNCONF=MYKERNEL

make installkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL INSTKERNNAME=testkernel
nextboot -k testkernel
shutdown -r now

cd /usr/src/bin/ls
make clean all
make install

cd /usr/src/sys/modules/sound
make all install clean cleandepend KMODDIR=/boot/kernel

config -d /home/user/my-kernel-builddir -s /home/user/src/sys/amd64/conf MY-KERNEL
cd my-module
make all KERNBUILDDIR=/home/user/my-kernel-builddir SYSDIR

cd /usr/src
make kernel KERNFAST=1

cd src
make toolchain TARGET_ARCH=aarch64

cd /usr/src
make TARGET_ARCH=aarch64 buildworld buildkernel
make TARGET_ARCH=aarch64 DESTDIR=/client installworld installkernel

cd src/bin/ls
make buildenv TARGET_ARCH=aarch64
make clean all install DESTDIR=/client

cd src
make buildenv TARGET_ARCH=aarch64
make kernel KERNFAST=1 DESTDIR=/client

Diagnostics

Bad system call (core dumped)

rescue/sh check failed, installation aborted

The kernel was not updated due to incorrect build procedure. Study the examples above.

Caveats

Old objects can cause obscure build problems; try ‘make cleandir cleandir’.

Environment poisoning can cause obscure build problems; try prefixing make(1) commands with ‘env -i’

When doing a major release upgrade, booting into single user mode for installworld is required.

Updating the boot loader(8) is architecture specific. Consult boot(8) for your architecture for more details.