Build Tools

Overview

Legato build tools are used to:

• generate boiler-plate code
• simplify component-based software development
• package applications and config settings to deploy to targets.

mk tools

These tools are used to build components, executables, apps and app systems, and all start with mk:

• mksys (Make System)
  
• mkapp (Make Application)
  
• mkexe (Make Executable)
  
• mkcomp (Make Component)

Most developers will usually only need mkapp (Make Application) and mksys (Make System).

mkexe (Make Executable) is only needed to build an executable for a target without packaging it as an application. This can be useful for building command-line tools you want to copy onto a target or bundle in a root file system image.

mkcomp (Make Component) can be used to build libraries from component sources, if you need to do that as a separate step as a part of a complex, custom, staged build system (instead of letting mksys, mkapp, or mkexe handle it).

ifgen

The ifgen tool generates code that parses interface definition (.api) files, and generates include files and IPC code (as needed) in various programming languages.

ifgen can be used manually to generate code, but usually it is invoked automatically by the mk tools.

More info about ifgen: Language-Independent APIs.

Related Info

Definition Files
Create Applications
Write Components
Demo Applications

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