// -*- mode:doc; -*- // vim: set syntax=asciidoc: ==== Using the generated toolchain outside Buildroot You may want to compile, for your target, your own programs or other software that are not packaged in Buildroot. In order to do this you can use the toolchain that was generated by Buildroot. The toolchain generated by Buildroot is located by default in +output/host/+. The simplest way to use it is to add +output/host/bin/+ to your PATH environment variable and then to use +ARCH-linux-gcc+, +ARCH-linux-objdump+, +ARCH-linux-ld+, etc. Alternatively, Buildroot can also export the toolchain and the development files of all selected packages, as an SDK, by running the command +make sdk+. This generates a tarball of the content of the host directory +output/host/+, named +_sdk-buildroot.tar.gz+ (which can be overriden by setting the environment variable +BR2_SDK_PREFIX+) and located in the output directory +output/images/+. This tarball can then be distributed to application developers, when they want to develop their applications that are not (yet) packaged as a Buildroot package. Upon extracting the SDK tarball, the user must run the script +relocate-sdk.sh+ (located at the top directory of the SDK), to make sure all paths are updated with the new location. Alternatively, if you just want to prepare the SDK without generating the tarball (e.g. because you will just be moving the +host+ directory, or will be generating the tarball on your own), Buildroot also allows you to just prepare the SDK with +make prepare-sdk+ without actually generating a tarball. For your convenience, by selecting the option +BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_ENVIRONMENT_SETUP+, you can get a +environment-setup+ script installed in +output/host/+ and therefore in your SDK. This script can be sourced with +. your/sdk/path/environment-setup+ to export a number of environment variables that will help cross-compile your projects using the Buildroot SDK: the +PATH+ will contain the SDK binaries, standard _autotools_ variables will be defined with the appropriate values, and +CONFIGURE_FLAGS+ will contain basic +./configure+ options to cross-compile _autotools_ projects. It also provides some useful commands. Note however that once this script is sourced, the environment is setup only for cross-compilation, and no longer for native compilation.