16383 2026-07-31 14:38:14 +0000 wic: syslinux-native is gated on the build host instead of the target 2026-08-04 02:27:59 +0000 1 1 7 Build System, Metadata & Runtime OE-Core core unspecified All Multiple RESOLVED FIXED Undecided normal --- 1 twoerner twoerner meta.mr.watcher meta.watcher --- --- No (bug/feature does not impact docs) oldest_to_newest 106407 0 twoerner 2026-07-31 14:38:14 +0000 image_types_wic.bbclass gates syslinux-native on the build host rather than on the target, so an x86 image built on a non-x86 host is given the target bootloader without the installer wic needs in order to use it. This is the other half of bug 13276: https://bugzilla.yoctoproject.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13276 That bug reported builds failing on non-x86 hosts, and it was correctly fixed for the case reported. Filing separately rather than reopening, because the reported symptom really was resolved; what follows is a different case that the fix left behind. Every table below assumes an image that uses wic, and shows whether that image ends up depending on syslinux-native. 1. As bug 13276 was reported. WKS_FILE_DEPENDS_DEFAULT listed syslinux-native unconditionally, and the syslinux recipe set COMPATIBLE_HOST to x86 for every variant, native included: build host | target | syslinux-native | result -----------+---------+-----------------+--------------------- x86 | x86 | yes | works x86 | non-x86 | yes | works, but wasteful non-x86 | x86 | yes | BUILD FAILS non-x86 | non-x86 | yes | BUILD FAILS <- reported 2. After the fix that closed bug 13276, which gated the dependency on BUILD_ARCH: https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=7e2ee2b59319 build host | target | syslinux-native | result -----------+---------+-----------------+--------------------- x86 | x86 | yes | works x86 | non-x86 | yes | works, but wasteful non-x86 | x86 | no | installer missing non-x86 | non-x86 | no | works <- reported case fixed The reported failure is gone. But the dependency was dropped from both non-x86-host rows, including the one that legitimately needs syslinux-native, so an x86 image built on a non-x86 host now gets the target bootloader without the installer wic has to run to use it. Richard made exactly this point in comment 1 on that bug: "The dependency would still seem inaccurate and should probably only be added if the target machine is x86?" The patch that landed gated on the build host instead. 3. After the syslinux recipe was reworked so that only its target code is x86-specific: https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=7273e131bfc7 build host | target | syslinux-native | result -----------+---------+-----------------+---------------------------- x86 | x86 | yes | works x86 | non-x86 | yes | works, but wasteful non-x86 | x86 | no | installer missing, and now | | | needlessly so non-x86 | non-x86 | no | works Nothing moved, and that is the point: the constraint that justified gating on the build host disappeared in 2020. That commit message even names the case it was enabling, "arm64 build host, qemux86 target", which is exactly the row that is still broken. 4. Gating on the target instead, the way wic-tools has always done it: build host | target | syslinux-native | result -----------+---------+-----------------+--------------------- x86 | x86 | yes | works x86 | non-x86 | no | waste removed non-x86 | x86 | yes | works non-x86 | non-x86 | no | works <- still fixed The bottom-right row is the one bug 13276 reported, and it never regains the dependency: a target gate excludes a non-x86 target whatever the build host is. The build-host gate was never load-bearing for the reported case. The only row that changes behaviour is non-x86 host with an x86 target, which starts building syslinux-native where it previously skipped it. I do not have a non-x86 build host to confirm that, so a test from someone who does would be very welcome. Three things suggest it is safe: 7273e131bfc7 was written specifically to enable it, its author was at Arm at the time, and wic-tools already gates syslinux-native on the target, so "bitbake wic-tools" on an arm64 host with an x86 target exercises the same path today. If it does turn out to fail, that would be a syslinux recipe issue -- it would need a COMPATIBLE_HOST for native, contradicting the intent of 7273e131bfc7 -- rather than a wic one. A patch is included in a wic series about to be posted to openembedded-core. 106410 1 twoerner 2026-08-02 02:32:21 +0000 Patch posted to the openembedded-core list, as part of the series "[PATCH v5 0/6] wic: ship the tools it invokes": [PATCH v5 6/6] wic: gate syslinux-native on the target, not the build host https://lore.kernel.org/openembedded-core/20260731152810.2641327-7-twoerner@gmail.com/ https://lists.openembedded.org/g/openembedded-core/message/242452 Moving to IN PROGRESS REVIEW. 106411 2 twoerner 2026-08-02 02:32:31 +0000 v6 supersedes v5. [PATCH v6 6/6] image_types_wic: gate syslinux-native on the target, not the build host https://lore.kernel.org/openembedded-core/20260802021000.2886095-7-twoerner@gmail.com/ https://lists.openembedded.org/g/openembedded-core/message/242515 Same fix. It is retitled because it now touches only image_types_wic.bbclass, and the target gating hangs off WKS_FILE_DEPENDS_DEFAULT directly rather than the shared helper-tool variable that v5 introduced and v6 dropped. 106412 3 twoerner 2026-08-02 02:35:33 +0000 Tooling check: verifying rest-bugzilla.sh raw now authenticates writes correctly. Please ignore. 106425 4 twoerner 2026-08-04 02:27:59 +0000 Fixed in master. The fix for this bug specifically: image_types_wic: gate syslinux-native on the target, not the build host https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=11a0582524ebf6c954c0d0bc2fd50683b27e986d It was merged as part of "[PATCH v6 0/6] wic: ship the tools it invokes", all six of which are now in master: wic-tools: drop the target bootloader firmware https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=78c9b1025a69dcf15beef9a55dc193ce8ddc0004 image_types_wic, wic-tools: drop the obsolete cross-binutils dependency https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=5eb21599c36a3313c1ba2a6b0aaf2ed7296d415c wic: add runtime dependencies on the tools it invokes https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=e15d4865f611bb41e4cac295b40ffceb9026f3ca oeqa/selftest/wic: drop dead COREBASE/scripts wic lookup https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=fc6e389180e49c583c9f2b504ec4402cd72309d3 oeqa/selftest/wic: drop redundant per-test PATH overrides https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=62a73618eadffeea38534695fc5cc88fa4424f1a Series posting: https://lore.kernel.org/openembedded-core/20260802021000.2886095-1-twoerner@gmail.com/