10011 2016-07-23 11:47:12 +0000 Suggested addition to the PROVIDES glossary entry to explain virtual targets 2016-07-29 21:10:01 +0000 1 1 9 Documentation Reference handbook 2.2 x86 Multiple RESOLVED FIXED Medium normal 2.2 M4 1 ulfalizer srifenbark bluelightning poky.doc.watcher poky.watcher sgw srifenbark --- --- Done (doc changes complete) oldest_to_newest 64385 0 ulfalizer 2016-07-23 11:47:12 +0000 There doesn't seem to be much documentation on virtual targets at the moment. I suggest adding the following to the end of the PROVIDES glossary entry in the Yocto Reference Manual and BitBake manual: In addition to providing recipes under alternate names, the PROVIDES mechanism is also used to implement <i>virtual targets</i>. A virtual target is a name that corresponds to some particular functionality, e.g. a Linux kernel. Recipes that provide the functionality in question list the virtual target in PROVIDES. Recipes that depend on the functionality in question can include the virtual target in DEPENDS to leave the choice of provider open. Conventionally, virtual targets have names on the form "virtual/function" (e.g. "virtual/kernel"). The slash is simply part of the name and has no syntactic significance. The [PREFERRED_PROVIDER] variable is used to select which particular recipe provides a virtual target. Cheers, Ulf 64386 1 ulfalizer 2016-07-23 11:50:36 +0000 In the PREFERRED_PROVIDER glossary entry, the word "provide" in the opening sentence could be turned into a link as well: If multiple recipes [provide](http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/2.2/ref-manual/ref-manual.html#var-PROVIDES) an item... 64669 2 srifenbark 2016-07-29 17:14:59 +0000 Hi Ulf, See http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/2.2/ref-manual/ref-manual.html#var-PROVIDES for the changes in the ref-manual. When we settle on these, I will update the same variable in the BitBake User Manual. I am going to wait though until we are good here. Regarding linking the normal work "provides", I don't want to do that as I have not done that in the past. Scott 64674 3 ulfalizer 2016-07-29 18:53:53 +0000 Looks good to me. Thanks, Ulf 64681 4 srifenbark 2016-07-29 21:10:01 +0000 Thanks Ulf, I am closing the bug. Here is the link to the changed version in the BitBake manual now - http://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/2.2/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual.html#var-PROVIDES. Scott